On the 6th, the joint investment was confirmed between K Cube Ventures, a specialist investor into internet, mobile and technology and Partners Investment. The investment is into a game company Kong Doo Company which specializes in MCN (Multi Channel Network) for games and the investment worth US$1.7m (KRW 2b) Kong Doo Company Professional is Korea’s premier gaming MCN originally starting with StarCraft gamers Hong Jin Ho and Kim Taek Young. For the…

On the 1st October, CoinPlug, a Fintech company specializing in blockchain technology using bitcoins, announced that it had secured US$4.2m (KRW 5b) in investments from domestic investors. Atinum Investment lead the investment along with other investors including KB Investment and SBI Investments. Uh Jun Sun CoinPlug’s representative said, “This investment activity from local investors highlights the rising importance of blockchain technology”. He added the company was, “Delighted that CoinPlug has become the first blockchain…

  Wishket, a startup specialist in IT outsourcing has received a US$1 million (KRW 1.2b) investment from Smilegate Investment and Mega Investment. Wishket is an online outsourcing platform linking IT projects with IT specialists that can carry out the work. When a company registers a project on Wishket, prospective talent are able to anonymously tender their proposals. The various proposals are organized in concisely and in a format easy to compare. In the process…

  On the 21st September, global satellite communication company DiGiFi Korea was successful with securing an investment worth US$170 million (KRW 200 billion) from UAE’s largest venture investment company, MENA Apps. Founded in 2014, DiGiFi Korea is a global company that developed an antenna for satellite communication that enables worldwide internet access. Their technology is able to create a wi-fi hotspot through their antenna that broadcasts the internet through low earth orbit satellite….

On the 10th September, FiscalNote announced its acquisition of Korean political analytic company MyCandidate. FiscalNote provides services of real time legal and policy data analysis. Similarly, the South Korean company MyCandidate specializes in analysis of political candidate campaigns through their developed and services application. This acquisition is expected to boost the access of open legal and government data from Asia through  MyCandidate that tracks and collects information of political campaigns and summarises…

Editor’s note : This article ‘NEOFECT shows how a robotic glove can help stroke victims’ was orginally published by e27’s Elaine Huang Meet NEOFECT, a South Korean tech company that wants to change the face of rehabilitative therapy for victims of stroke and other brain trauma. Founded by Hoyoung Ban, who is also the CEO, NEOFECT is doing that with RAPAEL, a US$1,000 robotic glove that runs on Android and connects to…

KTB Network specializing in company investments in the global field of cosmetics, fashion and electronics has confirmed an investment deal worth US$2.5m (KRW 3b) into B2Link.  This recent investment follows on from DSC Investment totalling US$1 million (KRW 1.3b) in September last year and January this year. The deal is expected should accelerate the developments required to become a global business. Since starting one year ago, the company has recorded first half year…

Editor’s note : This article ‘Make your own viral video ads to entice users with Hooreel’ was orginally published by e27’s Elaine Huang Late last month, South Korean startup IndieCF launched its first iOS application Hooreel which promises to let anyone and everyone with a smartphone “create their own viral marketing videos”. The free app is specifically targetted at business owners who might not have the equipment, resources or expertise to create…

  As revealed on the 31st August, mobile service provider YellowMobile has reported Q2 sales total of US$66m which is up 533% from the same period last year.  Compared to Q1 figures, sales has grown by 38%. YellowMobile’s Q2 goals followed on from Q1 trends as they concentrated their efforts on expansion into foreign markets, and positioning itself for sector growth. The results of the 5 business streams categorised in order of magnitude are: O2O $27.6m…

On September 1, Softbank Ventures Korea announced a joint investment deal with Capstone Partners for an amount US$920k which is to be invested into Gaudi Audio Lab. When founded, Gaudi Audio Lab’s mission was to provides the ultimate sound experience that integrates sound and feeling.  This sound solution technology is aimed at complementing the emerging AR and VR markets. Key members include experts at the Wilus Institute of Standard and Technology who led…

Fintech startup company BMO has received approximately US$1.8 million from investors including Yellow Financial Group, Settle Bank and Shin Hyun Sung the CEO of Ticket Monster for their P2P (peer to peer) loan service platform Honest Fund. Honest Fund is a peer to peer personal loans and investments service, that directly connects borrowers to lenders without banking institutions. The platform provides borrowers access to funds that do not impact on credit ratings…

If you’ve ever experienced the frustration in finding the right insurance plan then MyRealPlan is the solution you’ve been waiting for.  Of course, finding the right insurance plan is just the start, you then need to find the best value amongst the multitude of insurance service providers and their brokers, and the broker’s brokers.  But no need to worry, since MyRealPlan has this solved too, with their reverse bidding process, where insurance…

  Korean travel tour and activity startup, MyRealTrip has revealed that it had secured additional investment through Silicon Valley company AltosVentures. For MyRealTrip, this new investment comes 1 year after the combined US$840 thousand investment from SmileGateInvestment and CapstonePartners in June last year. The funding will provide the needed foundations in launching the business globally. MyRealTrip was founded in 2012 as a travel startup offering locals around the globe the opportunity to partake…

  On the 25th August, it was revealed that Yogiyo a popular food delivery service app in Korea had received further investment of $35 million from DeliveryHero.  DeliveryHero is a German company that provides online food service solutions internationally. This brings the total investments into Yogiyo to approximately US$55 million. Through this investment  Yogiyo will direct their focus towards achieving the total satisfaction of their customers, through continued development and improvement to products and services….

Korean entertainment site Soompi has been acquired by Viki in a deal rumored to be less than US $10M. Viki was a startup that was purchased by Rakuten in a huge US $200M deal. This time, Viki is on the other end of the table and the divestor is Crunchyroll. The combination of Viki and Soompi will make the company the largest English platform for discussion and news on Korean entertainment. Korean dramas…

  On August 17th, Wemakeprice a company dealing with social commerce, announced it had raised a total of $85M following the third release of its shares through NXC. Through this investment, Wemakeprice plans to seek the necessary talent and improve its systems in order to accelerate and improve the shopping experience for its customers and partners. NXC specializes in online and mobile games production as well as distribution through its subsidiary Nexon. Kim…

Daum Kakao announced that it nominated Ji Hoon Rim, current CEO of K Cube Ventures, as the new CEO of Daum Kakao. In order to swiftly drive change and innovation in the rapidly evolving mobile era, the company has decided to shift from a co-CEO structure to a single CEO structure. The strategic decision is expected to help bring out the company’s full potential following its merger last October. Ji Hoon Rim, CEO…

MCN(멀티채널네트워크) 전문기업 트레져헌터(대표 송재룡)는 DSC인베스트먼트로부터 총 40억원 규모의 신규 투자를 유치했다고 10일 밝혔다. 지난 5월 전략적 파트너사인 네시삼십삼분과 국내 및 해외 벤처캐피탈 3개사로부터 총 67억원을 투자 받았으며, 지금까지 총 107억원의 투자금을 유치했다. 트레져헌터는 이번 투자 유치를 기반으로 하반기에 홍콩, 중국 진출 등 글로벌 사업을 추진할 예정이다. 하태훈 DSC인베스트먼트 전무는 “트레져헌터는 국내 최초의 MCN 전문기업”이라며 “사업계획에 따라 꾸준히 목표를 달성해 가고 있다는 점에서 회사가 가진 사업 역량에 주목했다”고 말했다. 트레져헌터에 투자를 결정한 ㈜DSC인베스트먼트는…

  Talent marketing company Kmong has successfully secured 700 million Korean Won (US $809,000) from East Gate Partners LLC, the fund management company leading Daum Kakao’s youth foundation investment trust. Kmong offers a platform for talent acquisition. Despite this being considered an intangible commodity, Kmong has had more than 130,000 transactions and currently boasts over 100,000 members. One of the most impressive numbers involve a particular seller with an accumulated sales total of one hundred…

인터넷 서비스 개발 기업 라쏘(대표 임백호)가 국내 최초로 모바일 관련 디자이너들을 위한 전문 사이트 유아이스푼 (http://www.uispoon.com)을 오픈했다고 23일 밝혔다. 유아이스푼 (UIspoon) 은 개인 포트폴리오 페이지를 쉽게 구축해주는 웹사이트로써 포트폴리오가 꼭 필요한 디자이너와 아티스트들이 유용하게 사용할 수 있는 툴이다. 사용자는 UI스푼을 통해 디자인한 종이 프로토타이핑에서 와이어프레이밍 단계 그리고 완성된 랜딩 페이지에 연결할 수 있다. 또한, 같은 업계에 종사하고 있는 다른 디자이너가 올린 작품에 댓글을 다는 등 디자이너 간의 소통이 가능해 커뮤니티의 역할도 한다. 사실상…