beSUCCESS, the top Korean startup media organization, organizer of the largest Korean-Global Tech conferences to date, and a global startup connector in partnership with Strong Ventures, a leading seed fund supporting Korean-Global entrepreneurship, are happy to officially announce the return of their flagship startup event, formerly known as beLAUNCH, now with a new brand, “beGLOBAL Seoul 2015”. This year’s conference is already heating up to become one of the most promising events to catalyze Korean, Asian, and Global entrepreneurship. beGLOBAL Seoul 2015 will be held May 14-15 at the brand new and magnificent Dongdaemun Design Plaza in the heart of Seoul. This conference has been expanding for the last 4 years!
Korea’s startup ecosystem has been gaining global attention and momentum recently:
- [UPDATED] Memebox, the first Korean startup to enter the Y Combinator program, earlier this month announced $29 million in funding to bring Korean beauty products to the world.
- Last November, Goldman Sachs led a $36 million investment in Baedal Minjok, the top food delivery app in Korea.
- The same month, mobile media company Yello Mobile received $100 million, at a valuation of $1 billion, from Formation8.
- Coupang, Korea’s top ecommerce company, received $100 million last May from Sequoia, at a valuation of $1 billion, and last December, it received another $300 million from a private equity consortium led by BlackRock.
- The merger, last May, of the Korean portal company Daum and Korea’s top messaging platform company Kakao created a giant that is now worth over $8 billion.
- LINE, the global messaging platform that is the top messaging app in Japan and many South East Asian countries, though wholly owned by Naver, the top Korean internet portal and search engine company, has been rumored to be valued at over $13 billion from last year.
- In addition to D.Camp, the entrepreneurial building owned and operated by the $500 million Banks Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs of Korea, and Maru180, the startup center opened by Asan Nanum Foundation (associated with Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung), Google announced the opening of its entrepreneurial Korea campus claiming that “Korean innovators and entrepreneurs are some of the best in Asia and Korean startups are making headlines around the world, especially in the mobile space”
- 500 Startups recently announced the launch of its Korea-focused fund 500 Kimchi.
beGLOBAL SEOUL 2015 expects to draw a crowd of over 3,000 startup entrepreneurs, investors, and IT professionals from large corporations and governmental institutions, and will be this year again, the largest tech gathering of its kind in Korea. The best place in Korea for the greatest minds in tech and startups globally to come share insights, network and be inspired entrepreneurially.
Past speakers that have joined to support the beGLOBAL conferences have included Phil Libin of Evernote, Eric Migicovsky of Pebble, Naval Ravikant of AngelList, David Lee of SV Angel, Jeff Clavier of SoftTech Ventures, Aydin Senkut of Felicis Ventures, the Winklevoss brothers, Bill Draper, Tim Draper and Adam Draper, Matt Marshall of VentureBeat and Sarah Lacy of Pando Media. Naval Ravikant, for example, shared after his participation last year that “it has been amazing seeing the rapid development of entrepreneurship and angel investing across the globe in the last decade. Korea in particular is becoming something of a regional hub for startups in Asia. beGLOBAL Seoul seems to be a great opportunity to get a snap-shot of the Asian scene and I’m glad to be a part of everything here at beGLOBAL.”
This year, Soul Htite, Co-founder of Lending Club and Founder/CEO of Dianrong (the top P2P lending company in China), Jonathan Badeen, Co-Founder of Tinder, Jorn Lyssegen,CEO/Co-Founder of Meltwater and M.E.S.T (a top entrepreneurship training program in Ghana, Africa), Bongjin Kim, CEO/Co-Founder of Baedal Minjok, and Suk Park, CEO/Co-Founder of Dramafever (acquired by Softbank last October) will be among the great speakers lined up for this year’s beGLOBAL Seoul 2015, with many more to be confirmed in the next coming weeks.
“beGLOBAL SEOUL 2015 is now positioned as one of the most prominent events for Asian entrepreneurship, with a global vision to unite entrepreneurship East and West” said James Jung, CEO of beSUCCESS, adding that “many of the top university graduates are now choosing the opportunity of startups over the predictability of a corporate career. In turn, these new Asian entrepreneurs will reach out even further into the global market, expanding entreprenurial energy and opportunities globally. Through beGLOBAL, we have created a Korea-centered platform to make that global vision a reality”.
Already, the results of this Korean-Global crossover platform are being seen:
- 5Rocks, a game analytics platform, met Global Brain, a top Japanese VC at beGLOBAL Seoul 2013 and received their investment in August that year, and was subsequently acquired by Tapjoy one year later.
- Korbit met Strong Ventures at beGLOBAL Seoul 2013, and received their investment in August that year. The company then met Bill, Tim and Adam Draper on the stage of beGLOBAL Silicon Valley 2013, and soon thereafter received a seed investment round led by Tim Draper, with prominent participation by Naval Ravikant from AngelList, David Lee from SV Angel, Barry Silbert with the Bitcoin Opportunity Fund. Last August, the company closed their Series A investment led by Softbank and Pantera Capital.
- Other startups that have received significant overseas funding after their participation in beGLOBAL conferences are VCNC, developer of the popular couple’s app, Between, and which received funding from Softbank, DeNA, Global Brain and 500 Startups; Memebox, which joined the Y Combinator as one of its shining stars in the winter of 2013; and KnowRe, an educational startup that received funding from Softbank and Sparklabs Global Capital.
For tickets, please click here; if you are interested in sponsoring, please contact the beGLOBAL Seoul 2015 Team at beglobal@besuccess.com
For teams interested in getting exposure for their nascent startup and grabbing a cool $100k + extras, sign up for the startup battle here.
More about beGLOBAL SEOUL 2015: In 2013, beGLOBAL Seoul attracted over 1,750 attendees. The event was featured in over 70 articles in Korea and overseas, and was attended by 63 speakers, many of whom came from Silicon Valley. In 2014, the organizers gathered 3,000 attendees and, thanks to the larger venue, was able to increase the number of startup showcase booths from 60 to 100. The top 20 teams showcase on the main stage in front of a panel of top global VCs. There is also space reserved for up to 15 corporate booths, allowing SMEs and large enterprises to showcase their products and services to the tech-centric audience. More than 300 investors are also expected to attend from over 40 countries, proving that the event will be a key Asian platform to discover regional tech trends, secure investments, and instigate global business deals. For event tickets and to book a startup booth please see our event registration page here, and for all other inquiries contact us at beglobal@besuccess.com
- beGLOBAL SEOUL 2015 teaser video here
- beGLOBAL SEOUL 2015 website here
More about beSUCCESS: Founded in 2012 beSUCCESS connects Korean and Asian entrepreneurs to the people and resources around the world that can help them succeed. This is achieved through their media channels in English and Korean, and through a number of offline events and meetups, including their flagship beGLOBAL SEOUL event at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, in the heart of Seoul, and beGLOBAL SV, which is scheduled for later this year in San Francisco.
