Vungle, the way developers put video ads in their apps, has opened a South Korean office to accelerate growth and global expansion for the country’s startups through high performance in-app advertising. Vungle Korea is led by industry heavyweight, Hong Kim, former CEO of Groupon Korea. Kim brings a solid background in startups and finance, along with a passion for growing companies globally to his new role with Vungle. “South Korea’s startups have…

오늘 페이스북의 마크 주커버그가 본인의 페이스북 계정을 통해 1시간가량의 공개 질의 답변 시간을 가졌다. 마크 주커버그는 이 과정에서 인공지능(Artificial Intelligence)이 페이스북에 어떤 방식으로 도입될 수 있을지에 대해 답변했다. 인공지능 기술에 대한 그의 견해를 엿볼 수 있는 시간이었다. 마크 주커버그는 페이스북에서 시도하는 모든 인공지능 연구는 ‘사용자가 공유하는 컨텐츠의 의미를 이해하는 것’에 중점을 두고 있다고 밝혔다. 이를테면 사용자가 친구와 함께 찍은 사진을 올리면 친구가 그것을 볼 수 있게 하거나, 애완견 사진을 올린 사용자가 같은…

미국 최대 온라인 쇼핑몰인 아마존이 최근 소량 제품에도 무료 배송을 실시하는 “아마존 소량 배송(Fulfillment by Amazon Small and Light.)” 프로그램을 소개했다.  기존에는 연 99달러를 납부하는 아마존 프라임 서비스 사용자와 35달러 이상 구매자에게 이틀의 배송 시간이 걸리는 무료 배송을 실시했으나, 아마존은 판매자와 구매자가 모두 이득이 될 수 있도록 적은 금액과 작은 상품에 대해서도 무료 배송을 실시한다는 것이 이번 시도의 주요 골자다. 다만 모든 제품이 아닌, 8 온스 (226 그램) 또는 10달러 이하 상품에 대해…

트위터가 뉴스 큐레이션 서비스 플립보드를 약 1조 원 가량에 인수하는 건을 진행 중이라고 테크미디어 리코드가 보도했다. 플립보드와 트위터 측은 이에 대해 공식적인 입장을 발표하지 않았다. 리코드는 이번 인수 건에 대해 “트위터 측이 실리콘밸리에서 프로덕트 천재라고 불리는 플립보드 대표인 마이크 맥큐(Mike McCue)를 비롯한 플립보드 팀을 영입하는 것이 트위터의 실적 증대에 기여를 할 것으로 판단했기 때문으로 보인다”고 설명했다. 최근 플립보드는 컨텐츠 사이에 광고를 끼워넣는 프로모티드 아이템스(promoted items)라는 방식을 통해 수익 모델을 새롭게 창출한 바…

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…

  “The Core of Mobile Advertising is Demand Estimation” Tapjoy, the company that recently acquired 5Rocks talked with a beSUCCESS editor about their first jointly produced product. In August this year mobile game analytics company 5Rocks from Korea was acquired by USA-based mobile advertisement platform Tapjoy. With 14 overseas branches and 600 million users per month Tapjoy is the world’s largest mobile advertisement company. Complimenting this portfolio, ‘5Rocks’ is an exemplary mobile…

It has been announced in Korean media this morning that the country’s leading food delivery service (Baedal minjeok) has secured funding of USD36 million from Goldman Sachs. JaeHyun Lee, in charge of the Korean investmnet said: “Korea is a very exciting market for e-commerce and we are excited to be partnering with Baedal Minjeok, to help them solidify their position in Korea and expand into new markets.” Kim BongJin, CEO of Baedal…

  Samsung has recently announced that it plans to launch its first virtual reality headset in the U.S. in December 2014. According to a company statement it will then gradually expand the service into other countries. The device provides 360 degree rotating view, creating a life-like experience for users. It is currently linked to the Galaxy Note 4 through a micro-USB. Oculus VR’s Max Cohen believes that the future of VR will be…

Korean developers are attracting increased interest from overseas firms. Tencent has already made a number of large-scale investments, and European companies are also actively seeking Korean gaming companies to bolster their growth. Due to current market conditions, it is likely that the Korean gaming market growth will have stalled by 2015, so Korean game companies are also actively looking for growth engines, particularly in overseas markets. It is also widely recognized that…

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…

As reported in Business Korea, Chinese handset maker Huawei is launching a mobile handset offensive against domestic powerhouses Samsung and LG, in the Korean market. The company will begin their invasion with a new flagship smartphone, set to compete with the more economical domestic options. Samsung Electronics will also make a stronger effort in the Chinese market to increase its market share, particularly in premium level handsets. Huawei is planning to target…

Google, on an international mission to rapidly connect with the global startup community, has recently announced that it will open a startup campus in Seoul, Korea next year. This comes at a time when Korean entrepreneurs are beginning to prove that they have what it takes to make an impact, as exemplified by a statement from Google’s Bridgette Beam: “Korean innovators and entrepreneurs are some of the best in Asia, and Korean startups are making headlines around…

Korbit, Korea’s leading bitcoin exchange, wallet and merchant processor, has just closed a $3 million Series A funding round led by SoftBank Ventures Korea. Pantera Capital led the round from the US, with participation from BAM Ventures and previous investors Bitcoin Opportunity Corp., Tim Draper, Pietro Dova and initial investor Strong Ventures. Korbit launched their bitcoin exchange last year and have now added two new bitcoin services and aim to continue building the…

Mobile monetization and ad-tech firm Tapjoy has today announced that they have acquired Korean analytics and marketing automation firm 5Rocks.  5Rocks enables user segmentation, cohort analysis by app behaviour, purchase patterns, social activity, referral channel and more, and notifies developers when there are various anomalies detected in their data. Additionally, it had previously received US$2.3 million in funding from Japan’s Global Brain, after James Jung (CEO, beSUCCESS)  made an introduction at beLAUNCH 2013. “5Rocks is…

정보의 충분한 전달이 어렵다는 것은 미디어에게도, 독자에게도 모두 좋은 일이 아니다. 이 문제를 해결하기 위해 MIT 미디어 랩의 알렉시스 호프(Alexis Hope)와 케빈 후(Kevin Hu)는 사건을 맥락화해서 보여주는 뉴스 플랫폼 ‘폴드(Fold)’를 만들어냈다. 폴드는 기본적으로 뉴스 플랫폼이지만 그 UI 측면에서 향후 미디어가 만들어나가야 할 미래를 보여준다. 미디어가 전하는 이슈 중에서는, 수많은 배경지식들을 알고 있어야만 독자가 총체적으로 사건을 이해할 수 있는 사안들이 있다. 특히나 한 국가에 국한되어 있는 것이 아니라, 세계적으로 문제가 되고 있는 환경, 종교,…

Spoqa is a Seoul-based startup that operates Dodo Points, a tablet-based loyalty platform for local merchants. Since its launch in April 2012, 1,500 local merchants in Korea signed up and Spoqa has driven 2.5 million customers to its partner merchants. Today the company has announced that it has closed its second round of funding, putting its total funding raised to $3.9M US dollars. With this round, Spoqa aims to aggressively expand its…

Is Korea once again employing protectionist policies rather than embracing the opportunity presented by progress? Seoul is proud of being labelled one of the the most progressive tech-focused cities in the world. The capital has one of the highest smartphone penetration rates in the world. Its residents are well-known for their rapid tech adoption. Additionally it’s administration has been pushing a move towards innovation and tech development. However,  Uber will likely be…

After a period of rampant speculations it has been reported that Line Corp.,which now boasts almost half a billion users, has filed confidentially for an initial offering in the U.S. It is expected that the company will seek a dual-listing in New York and Tokyo. This, according to a report our on Bloomberg. While the details have not been released publicly by Line, it is believed that Morgan Stanley (MS) is managing the listing…

Rakuten Ventures today announced the launch of a $100M global investment fund. This fund builds on the success of the Southeast Asia fund, which was launched in 2013 and counts Carousell, Visenze, Coda Payments and Send Anywhere among its investment portfolio. The investment in Send Anywhere is Rakuten’s first investment in a company outside South East Asia and their first in a South Korean startup, ESTMob. The new fund will target investments…