Technology investment specialist K Cube Ventures, confirmed on the 22nd investment of US$400k (KRW 470m) into Binary VR, a startup for facial expression tracking based on cyber reality and avatar generating solution. Binary VR is able to recognise facial expressions in real time and transfer this onto a virtual reality 3D generated avatar. Ryu Ji Hoon a key member of Binary VR had previously developed relevant technology whilst working for…

  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….

ZaiSeoul is a Korean Travel business specifically catering for Chinese tourist requirements through their travel service platform. On the 18th September, ZaiSeoul confirmed an investment from NICE group for US$2.5m (KRW 3b).  Since 2011, ZaiSeoul has distributed a discount coupon like magazine in Korea and China. The magazine distributed monthly, services Chinese tourists with travel information including accommodation, restaurants, tourist attractions, shopping and other travel related contents. In total, the magazine has distributed…

Mobile game OriginGames has secured US$1.7m (KRW 20b) from two very well known Venture Capital companies; American VC Altos Ventures; and Bon Angels Venture Partners who were the first VC in Korea to specifically target startup investments. Origin game is a startup specializing in mobile games. Their key personnel include webgen ‘R2’ and C9’ team leaders, and key development team members from Nexen ‘Dungeon and Fighter’. They are currently developing a mobile game…

Brandi who develop applications for sharing shopping reviews, has successfully won a US$420k (KRW 500m) investment from DSC investments. Brandi is the app to share photos and reviews of shopping items. Users are able to view photos in an Instragram like environment and read reviews regarding the product. The investment funds will assist the company plans for further development of their mobile systems and technologies whilst providing a boost to marketing efforts. DSC…

On the 15th September, Daum Kakao revealed an investment of  US$2.5m(KRW 3b) into Dunamu which provides a mobile social portfolio investment service. The deal includes a strategic business agreement between the two companied to jointly provide a stock-financial service. Dunamu is a special fintech startup operating mobile investment portfolio app Stock Plus for Kakao through their messenger KakaoTalk. Stock Plus (app) has now reached a cumulative contract value of US$1.7b (2 trillion KRW); 30…

On the 15th September, Korean startup and game development company Buff Studio confirmed an investment of US$420k (KRW 500m) had been received from NC Soft. Buff Studio is the creator of the popular action and RPG (Role Play Game) game, ‘Buff Knight – RPG Runner’.  Some awards won by Buff Knight include the following awards: 2014 Korean Game Awards: Indie Game Award 2014 Top 30 Best Games 2014 on Google Plan (Korea) #1…

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…

Drama & Company, the developer of business card organiser app Remember has secured investments totalling US$5.4m (KRW 6.5b). The investors include Partners Investment, Korea Investment Partners, Ajuib Investment and Daegyo Investment. Remember has gained popularity for its highly accurate input system and has over 650 thousand users. It is the leading business card organizing app and was voted the the best business card organizing app in the ‘2015 Customer Satisfaction Index’. Unlike…

East Gate Partners, specialist in technology venture capital revealed on the 8th of Septembers that they would invest into TownCompany. East Gate Partenrs are in charge of Daum’s Youth Startup Establishment Fund, and actively invest into startups that specialize in the fields of O2O (online to offline), IoT (Internet of Things) and eCommerce. Prior to the ‘Daum Youth Startup Establishment Fund’; Daum Communication with State Agency of Small and Medium Business formed ‘We Fund’,…

Mobile, internet and technology investment specialists, K Cube Ventures has invested US$250k (KRW 300m) into Apple Pie Studies, a startup dealing in social pet services. Apple Pie Studios allows users to interact and nurture for virtual pets through their social pet service, HelloPet. Kan Ho Young the company representative utilises his diverse experience covering social and language to mingle colleagues from various aspects of the business covering planning, development and operations from the…

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…

On the 4th September, judging of teams competing in the startup battle for beGLOBAL’s upcoming San Francisco 2015 conference event was finalized at an event at ‘Startup Alliance’, Korea. As part of the process startups teams were judged in a two stage process: first stage documentation review and qualification process, followed by second stage presentations. Of the teams that presented to the judging panel, the top 10 startups were selected for this years beGLOBAL…

Editor’s note : This article ‘Everyone’s livestreaming, broadcasting on mobile’ was originally published by e27’s Elaine Huang On smartphone screens worldwide, Kim Yubin and Lee Sunmi of famous Korean pop (K-pop) quartet Wonder Girls greet V users with singsong voices and peace hand signs. The two young celebrities banter playfully, amidst girly giggles, while fans litter the comments board with coloured hearts, compliments and ㅋㅋㅋ, which indicates laughter in Korean. V is South Korean conglomerate Naver’s app…

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…

Travel Note & Tour, developer of location based social travel service, Travel Note has announced its success in securing an investment of US $420k from Coolidge Corner Investment, specialist in venture capital for startups. After launching June 2013, Travel Note & Tour went on to win the 2013 excellence award at the Tourism Creation Ideas Contest. For two consecutive years, the startup has also been chosen as the leading creator of tourism business…

BonAngels Venture Partners who specialise in technology startup investments along with state run program Tech Incubator Program for Startup (TIPS) have invested US$590k into Maverick the provider of cloud SNS video editing app Alive. Last year, Maverick, an affiliate of KT, created an app called Alive that allows users to easily edit and share the video taken on smartphones.  Through the use of a cloud rendering engine, Alive can compose high quality…

Uvify a startup specializing in the development of autonomous unmanned drone technologies, has won an investment deal with K Cube Ventures.  This deal was confirmed on the 2nd September by K Cube Ventures who are widely known as leaders in technology investments. The investment deal is thought to be worth a quarter million US dollars. Aside from the K Cube Ventures investment, Uvify has secured further investments from two state run agencies with…

On the 2nd September, Brat Village an O2O startup announced that it had secured an investment from Strong Ventures and East Gate Partners.  This is the second investment is as many months following a recent investment from K Cube Ventures. Brat Village which was formed in December 2014, services total home care provider Doctor House. This service is quickly gaining a reputation as the go to O2O home care service provider for those wanting…