테크크런치 디스럽트 샌프란시스코(TC Disrupt SF) 2016 행사의 2일차 어젠더 프로그램에 등장한 인물 가운데 마크 베니오프(Marc Benioff)만큼 흥미로운 인물은 없었던 것 같다. 그는 요즘엔 별 것 아닌 듯 보이는 ‘클라우드 컴퓨팅’이란 걸 사업 아이템으로 삼아 성공한 최초의 인물이고, 세일즈포스를 창업한 직후 스티브 잡스를 찾아가 조언을 구한 일화는 업계의 화젯거리다. 또한 그는 매우 공격적인 사회 참여로도 잘 알려져있다. 13일 디스럽트 무대에서 그가 보여준 풍모는 기업가보다는 운동가의 그것에 가까웠다. 모더레이터인 테크크런치 편집장 매슈 팬자리노(Matthew Panzarino)의 질문을 가로막거나 끝나기가 무섭게 이어진 그의 답변은 굵고 우렁찼고, 가끔은 자기 주장만을 내세우는 것으로 보였지만 진심을…

올해 사우스바이사우스웨스트(SXSW)에도 얼굴을 비쳤던 오바마 행정부의 CTO 메건 스미스(Megan Smith)가 지난 12일 부 CTO 알렉산더 맥길리브레이(Alexander Macgilivray)와 함께 디스럽트 무대에 올라 그간의 성과와 계획에 관해 이야기를 나눴다. 그녀의 방문은 퇴임을 앞둔 오바마가 8년여의 재임 동안 추진했던 디지털 정부의 정책에 대한 회고의 성격이었지만, 혼전을 거듭하고 있는 미국 대선 결과에 대한 불안을 읽어낼 수 있는 자리이기도 했다. 오바마 행정부와 CTO “CTO 사무실에서 우리는 데이터, 혁신, 테크놀로지 등을 어떻게 통제하고 미국인들을 위해서 어떻게 활용할지 고민합니다….

지난 12일, 테크크런치 디스럽트 샌프란시스코(TC Disrupt SF) 2016 어젠더 프로그램의 연사로 초청된 모건 드본(Morgan DeBaun)은 미국 테크놀로지 업계에서 매우 독특한 인물이다 . 여성, 흑인, 흑인 미디어의 CEO, 온갖 마이너한 것들이 그녀를 수식한다. 그녀가 2014년 공동 창업한 미디어 블래비티(Blavity, Black+Gravity)는 이제 월간 UV 7백만 수준의 인터넷 뉴미디어로 성장했고 흑인 커뮤니티의 버즈피드 같은 존재가 되었다. 이번 달엔 500스타트업에서 1백만 달러의 초기 투자를 받을 정도로 가치를 인정받았다. Black Lives Matter 블래비티는 흑인 청년 사회의 목소리를 대변한다. 그리고 ‘흑인의 생명도 소중하다'(Black Lives Matter·BLM)…

  BeyondK, a Hallyu based MCN star promotion program, has been launched. BeyoundK is a program which plans and creates contents for Hallyu based global creators. It is a one-stop program cooperated by GoodTimeWithMe(KBEAT) and Wish Company, which also manages all from the producing of projects, managing, marketing, and creating profit. GoodTimeWithMe is a startup which is based on the KPOP fandom community service and the network with Hallyu based MCN stars. For…

이메일(전자우편)의 ‘@’을 최초로 사용한 미국의 컴퓨터 프로그래머 레이 톰린슨(Ray Tomlinson)이 74세의 나이로 사망했다고 호주의 한 매체가 소식을 전했다. 뉴욕에서 태어난 톰린슨은 네트워크 이메일을 발송하는 프로그램을 개발한 볼트 버라넥(Bolt Beranek)에 근무할 당시 이메일 주소에서 사용자 ID와 이메일 주소를 연결하는 심볼로 ‘@(at)’을 채택한 인물로 잘 알려졌다. 초기에는 로컬 이메일과 네트워크 이메일을 구분하기 위해 채택되었지만 향후 이메일 주소의 구성 방식으로 정의되었다. 그는 2012년 와이어드와의 인터뷰를 통해 “키보드를 보았는데 다수의 키 중에 과연 어떤 심볼이 사용자…

Netflix will invest $50 million in upcoming South Korean film Okja by Bong Joon Ho which will be co-produced by Plan B Entertainment, an American film production studio co-founded by Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. Okja is a monster movie about the friendship between a little girl and some type of creature. I hope it shares some DNA with Joon-ho’s best movie, The Host. The cast is nothing to shake a stick at,…

After three years in operation, NFLabs, Korea’s most promising Big Data startup has raised series A funding from Big Basin Capital, Bon Angels and Coolidge Corner investment. The funding of $1.5 million USD will be primarily used to bring the startups big data analytics and visualization software to a global audience. NFLabs CEO Sejun Ra explained, “the investment will really boost our expansion to North America. We will focus on speeding up…

Korean gaming company ‘SundayToz’ and The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Development and have created the ‘AniPang Fund.’ The fund will be aimed at startups in the following fields: Gaming, Social, digital content, platform based technology and contents based technology. The ‘AniPang Future Contents Investment Association’ will operate under the management of Smilegate Investment. While the fund will primarily focused on startups in Korea, a representative from SundayToz has confirmed that they are…

[This article was originally published on Forbes] I was in Asia last week to attend a Demo Day for startups that participated in a two month acceleration program through DEV Korea where I serve as a principal. These companies had split their time between New York and Seoul in order to gain a global perspective that could be applied to their ventures while they were still in a formative stage. This is…

According to the Korea Small Business Institute, small and medium enterprises running their own research institutes suffered from a technology outflow worth $5.6 billion between 2011 and 2013. The amount was equivalent to 58% of their R&D expenditures for the same period. The sales decrement caused by the tech leak was $2.27 million on average, or around 20% of annual sales. However, despite knowledge of the problem, most companies have not make…

This is part two of this story. Part 1 here In 2010 when Bong-jin Kim left’ Naver’ (Korea’s primary online search portal), he had no idea about Venture Capital or ‘Exit’. Additionally, he had no interest in global expansion. He built his startup to focus on solving ‘small issues that Koreans face in their daily lives’. Yesturday we discussed how he raised his first three rounds of funding. Today we look at how…

In 2010 when Bong-jin Kim left’ Naver’ (Korea’s primary online search portal), he had no idea about Venture Capital or ‘Exit’. Additionally, he had no interest in global expansion. He built his startup to focus on solving ‘small issues that Koreans face in their daily lives’. That is how Baedal Minjok started. But recently his ‘startup’ raised $36 million USD from Goldman Sachs. He concluded, “if a person like me who had…

Another promising initiative is Digital Entertainment Ventures (DEV). Launched in New York in 2012, DEV focuses mainly on media, entertainment and platform businesses, and only recently expanded to Korea. According to Kaine Kim the Co-CEO of DEV Korea, Seoul seemed to be the most suitable place for setting up a new office within the Asian market. This is in part due to the growing support of the Korean government, and the President’s…

“We are trying to come up with a realistic solution to help startups to relocate overseas. We are going to completely reimagine what people have done so far. We are going to determine what startups truly need.”                                                                                                                           Steven Baek, FuturePlay Founded in early 2014, FuturePlay focuses on funding early-stage tech startups. The company believes that in order to understand the market properly and have a solid basis, a…

Seoul, with its rapidly growing startup ecosystem is gaining precedence as one of the most promising entrepreneurial hubs in the world. Home to two of the most influential global tech leaders, Samsung and LG, the perception of Seoul has traditionally been of a corporate hub. But this is now rapidly changing, as a new breed of tech startups rise and as the big boys begin to plateau. South Korea is now rapidly…

“Protect our children together,” calls Lineable, a new wristband that helps track missing children. The device was developed by a Korean startup, yet the slogan has resounded with parents across the globe. What is Lineable? Lineable is a wristband loaded with beacon technology that enables parents to both prevent losing their children, and if they become lost, to find them easily. But that’s not all. Due to the core technology, the more…

During my time working with Korean startups there has been an almost universal fear of the dangers of entry to the Chinese market. But as Korean founders become more globally minded, and more confident in themselves, fear is being replaced with confidence and success stories are beginning to emerge. In addition, Chinese-Korean relations have never been better, and I expect that in the years to come great opportunities for cross-border opportunity will…

Tribeluga is a Seoul-Beijing based startup accelerator with the core mission of connecting Startups to new (and traditionally tough) markets, primarily China and the US. Today the company’s President, Lili Luo, launched the accelerator in a glitzy opening event in Seoul that attracted media from across the globe. Dignitaries from the US, Korea and China, including the Mayor of Palo Alto also attended. The event was arranged to officially open the accelerator,…

SoftBank has just announced that they will acquire Korean TV streaming service, DramaFever, for an undisclosed amount. DramaFever is a five-year-old Korean startup that streams global TV shows and movies online. The company was founded by brothers Hyun and Suk Park which also raised series A funding from SoftBank in 2013. DramaFever has raised a total of over $12 million altogether, since founding. This is the second major acquisition of a Korean online TV distribution…

Sparklabs fourth batch recently kicked off and I had the chance to speak with one of their most promising startups, OnnuriDMC. OnnuriDMC operates a mobile advertising platform, CrossTarget, that the founders believe has solved a major issue for mobile advertisers; being able to track users in the mobile app environment in real time. Background In the PC environment advertisers are able to easily track user behavior through cookies, but this is generally…