500 Startups: Asia is all about the mobile internet. And one particular country, home of amazing food and amazing connectivity has quietly been a technology leader not just regionally but worldwide. That’s right, I’m talking about Korea: home of 2NE1, PSY, Samsung, and a quickly growing tech startup scene. For a country of roughly 50 million people, Korea is disproportionately important in technology. Did you know that it was ranked second in the world…

Top Asian VCs with Global Impact Panel Saemin Ahn (Managing Partner of Rakuten Ventures) Saemin Ahn (“Sae”) is the Managing Partner at Rakuten Ventures. Prior to Rakuten Ventures, Sae was at Google for 5 years from 2008 to 2013 managing Sales and Business Development for Asia. Along with writing in spare time, having been named one of Quora’s 2013 Top Writers, he has made investments ranging from C2C marketplace, payment infrastructure technology…

The Wearables Revolution   Eric Migicovsky (CEO/Founder of Pebble) Eric Migicovsky is the founder and CEO of Pebble Technology, the company behind the Pebble watch, a smartwatch for iPhone and Android. The first model of the smart watch was the InPulse model which was built while Migicovsky and his friends were still in university. In 2012, the team launched the most successful Kickstarter campaign to date which raised over $10M . (…

Aviram Jenik is a rare entrepreneurial breed in Korea. He has built and exited two global companies and his third venture, Beyond Security, is working steadily towards an IPO in the US. In his free time Aviram makes Angel Investments in and coaches Korean entrepreneurs. I caught up with him recently to learn about his experiences as an Angel Investor in Korea. Disclaimer: Ok, before you think you’ve missed something, Aviram is…

Soujanya Bhumkar, Coolris CEO, will speak at this years beLAUNCH conference, Korea’s premier start up and tech event. The explosion of the selfie has become part of creating a new type of human experience and  Cooliris believes in augmenting the impact of these snaps, through personal media which is shared privately. Coolris was founded on the core principal of improving the user experience when browsing media and information on the web.  From…

WeMakePrice Tops Charts for Growth in 2013 Korea’s major social commerce operator WeMakePrice announced on February 17 that it came on top in terms of growth rate last year among mobile applications. According to the “Mobile App Growth Rate Top 100 for 2013” which was surveyed by Ranky.com on the basis of the usage logs of 60,000 Android handset users, WeMakePrice marked a growth rate of 935.9 percent last year, ranking No….

Food delivery in Korea is among the best in the world, and there are now two heavyweights battling it out for ultimate supremacy. Yogiyo was founded by Team Europe as a quasi-copycat app to the existing local player, and allows ordering by either calling the restaurant directly or by using an in-app quick messaging service. As a foreigner, the addition of the quick messaging service is really handy. It means I don’t…

미래창조과학부 산하의 준정부기관인 정보통신산업진흥원(NIPA)이 오는 5월 14, 15 양일간 개최되는 스타트업 콘퍼런스 ‘비론치2014(beLAUNCH2014)’에 실버 스폰서로 합류한다. 이번 행사에 후원사로 참여하는 정보통신산업진흥원은 정보통신산업의 고도화와 미래 신산업 창출을 미션으로 하여 정부의 정보통신산업 정책을 총괄적으로 지원하는 기관으로, 기존의 정보통신연구진흥원, 한국소프트웨어진흥원, 한국전자거래진흥원 등 3개 기관의 관련 업무를 통합하여 설립되었다. 정보통신산업진흥원은 창업 및 글로벌 기업 육성, SW산업 경쟁력 강화, 창의적 융합을 통한 성장동력 창출, 창의융합형 인재 양성, 산업현장 중심의 전략기획 선도 등 5가지 목표 하에 다양한 전략과제를…

Digital Video Ads Created in 20 Minutes, and for $50. This promise from Shakr Media, the Korean startup that is dedicated to re-imagining everything to video, is ready to rev up local auto dealer advertisements. The company, which has demonstrated a dedication to ‘going global’ by setting up offices in San Fransisco, today announced that it has added nearly a dozen video advertising styles for auto dealers to its drag-and-drop simple video creation solution….

‘한국과학창의재단’, 비론치 2014 골드 후원사로 참여 미래창조과학부 소관의 재단법인이자 준정부기관인 한국과학창의재단(KOFAC)이 오는 5월 14, 15 양일간 개최되는 스타트업 콘퍼런스 ‘비론치2014(beLAUNCH2014)’에 골드 스폰서로 합류한다. 이번 행사에 후원사로 참여하는 한국과학창의재단은 과학기술에 대한 국민의 이해를 도와 지식수준을 높이고 과학기술이 널리 보급, 이용될 수 있도록 하며, 창의적 인재육성을 통해 국가 발전에 기여함을 목적으로 하는 기관이다. 이번 비론치 콘퍼런스 후원 역시, 잠재력이 큰 국내 스타트업의 성장에 힘을 실어주기 위한 목적으로 추진되었다. 한국과학창의재단은 창조교육의 확산과 창조경제의 기반이 되는…

지난 금요일(18일), 드디어 본선 무대에 올라가 아시아 최고의 서비스 자리를 겨룰 ‘비론치 2014(beLAUNCH 2014)’의 배틀 탑 20 기업이 발표되었다. 그러나 아직 기뻐하기는 이르다. 5월 14, 15일 3천 여명이 넘는 글로벌 VC와 스타트업계 종사자, 관객 앞에 서기 위해 이들에겐 아직 치열한 트레이닝의 시간이 남아있다. 이를 위해 비론치 2014(beLAUNCH 2014)가 스타트업 배틀 TOP 20에 선정된 기업을 대상으로 오늘 23일 삼성동 스타트업 얼라이언스에서 킥오프 미팅을 개최했다. 3시부터 8시까지 총 다섯 시간동안 킥오프 미팅에서는 주요 일정 공유와…

As accelerators have fully taken root in Seoul’s burgeoning startup ecosystem, with at least ten being worthy of mention, statistics have just been released to help founders get visibility into the profile of successful applicants to startup Accelerators. More than 250,000 founders and 47,000 startups globally use F6S’ accelerator recruiting tool, and approximately 90% of Accelerators globally use the advanced platform to take applications, manage community and select successful applicants. The results…

와이컴비네이터,  플러그앤플레이, 그리고 500스타트업 우리나라의 다양한 창업지원 프로그램이 기획과정에서 주로 벤치마킹하는 해외의 프로그램이 있다. 그들의 도움으로 해외에 성공적으로 연착륙 하기 위해 또 글로벌 비즈니스를 꿈꾸는 국내외 스타트업이 직접 들어가고자 하는 프로그램이기도 하다. 와이컴비네이터(Y-combinator), 플러그앤플래이(Plug and Play) 그리고 500스타트업(500startups, 이하 500스타트업)이 그 주인공이다. 실제로 미미박스는 232:1의 경쟁률을 뚫고 Y컴비네이터에 들어가 프로그램에 참여한 후 미국 매출이 15%증가했다는 소식이 들려왔으며, 500스타트업이나 와이컴비네이터 입학팀/졸업팀이라는 사실은 업계와 소비자의 스포트라이트를 받으며 투자 유치에 보다 유리한 지점을 선점할 수 있게 돕는다.  500스타트업,…

1. Pantech Co., South Korea’s smallest smartphone manufacturer after Samsung and LG, recently raised concerns over a mobile carrier’s decision to cut the factory price of its smartphone, saying the two did not have an agreement on the matter. LG Uplus said it will slash the price of Vega Secret Up smartphones by 37%, to $577.92 from the previous price of aroun $900, claiming the move is meant to help Pantech expand…

Original data for this post taken from an article in Korean on Under The Radar, with additional editing from Hugh Yoon and Nathan Millard: Under The Radar, a prominent IT and Startup focused blog, recently published a top 10 list of venture backed enterprises in Korea. Not surprisingly, Kakao was placed number one in the list by a wide margin. In Korea, unlike most other venture ecosystems around the world, success is…

1. Samsung has released its latest Galaxy S5 smartphone and wearables in 125 countries around the world as it battles squeezed profits and challenges to its top market position. Such a large simultaneous launch is the biggest of its kind for any of its previous products. The previous generation S4, the best selling android phone ever, started selling in 60 countries, and the Note 3 was first released in 58 countries. 2….

Last week Cookie Run, one of the most popular mobile games in Korea, celebrated its one year anniversary after a year that has been huge the game and the developer team behind it. The game has seen four consecutive quarters of outstanding revenue and two months ago released on LINE. Since this global release, Cookie Run had over 10 million downloads in Thailand alone, and the game continues to dominate in Asia…

7년간의 마크 주커버그와의 법적 공방으로 유명한 윙클보스 형제가 오는 5월 14, 15일 동대문 디지털 프라자(DDP)에서 양일간 개최되는 아시아 최대의 스타트업 콘퍼런스 ‘비론치2014(beLAUNCH2014)’에 연사로 합류한다. 캐머런 윙클보스, 타일러 윙클보스 이 두 형제는 2004년 마크 주커버그가 자신들의 아이디어를 도용해 페이스북을 만들었다는 내용의 소송을 제기해 7년간의 법정 공방을 벌인 사건으로 세간의 이목을 끌었다. 결국, 페이스북은 이들 형제에게 6,500만 달러(한화 약 671억9,700만 원)를 합의금으로 지급했다. 이들의 이야기는 영화 ‘소셜 네트워크’를 통해 전 세계로 알려졌다. 이후 윙클보스 형제는…

This article gives a round-up of recent news from the Korean startup and tech environment. Please feel free to suggest updates and additional news. If you want to check out Korea for yourself, we suggest coming to Seoul, May 14-15, for beLAUNCH, Korea’s top tech and startup event. While the event is based in Korea we welcome startups from across the world and have secured a top line-up of global speakers who…

Korea is a country traditionally tied up in confusion societal order with a fierce preservation of tradition and status quo. Yet with this backdrop for tradition, Korea has obtained the highest levels of Internet access and lighting speed connections with intent now to upgrade to an unprecedented next-generation 5G wireless service that will be able to download full-length movies in one second. While the older generation listen to calming folk song and…