Goldman Sachs, the global leader in investment banking is joining the list of foreign investors interested in Korean Startup. Goldman Sachs have invested a total of US$33m (KRW 38b) in ZigBang the leading real estate mobile application in Korea with a 70% market dominance.
Following their launch in 2010, ZigBang secured a US$23m (KRW 27b) investment lead by Blue Run Ventures. This latest investment from Goldman Sachs will be used to towards launch of new services as well as market expansion.
Lee Jae Hyun from Goldman Sachs responsible for Korean investments commented, “ZigBang is an application that provides a differentiates solution through utilization of Korea’s leading mobile infrastructure and online platform”. This investment makes Goldman Sachs a leading investor in Korea’s mobile technology following their investment of US$35m (KRW 40b) into a Korean delivery app in November.
This investment is among a flurry of recent interest from international investment banks for Korean startups. Industry officials attribute the high level of interest to be related to internet heavyweight, Naver’s decision in 2013 to withdraw from the field of real estate platforms. This has directly resulted in increases in the number of new startups competing in this space. Between the top three Korean online platforms; Coupang, Ticket Monster and WeMakePrice, there has been a combined investment of US$860m (KRW 1 trillion).
Anh Song Woo from ZigBang commented on this latest investment, “Through our partnership with Goldman Sachs, we plan to expand the company as well as create an innovative platform”. “We will create a service that users want and provides exact and detailed information relating to real estate including monthly rent and other useful information”.