PRODUCT
Naver Enjoys Strong Revenue On The Back Of LINE Success
2014년 10월 31일

Naver, Korea’s largest search portal and parent company of the popular LINE messeging application, has sustained double-digit growth in the third quarter of this year The primary reason for this is strong revenue growth in overseas markets. The company posted sales of around $700 million for the third quarter of this year, up 22.3% on the same period last year. Operating profit for the quarter is estimated at around $188 million, also…

Pet Care In Korea Gets A Boost, As K Cube Ventures Invests In ‘Companimals’
2014년 10월 29일

Despite a rather dodgy name that mashes ‘companion and animals’, Companimals is showing promise, capitalizing on a rapidly growing pet market in Korea. The Seoul-based startup has just announced a $400k investment from K Cube Ventures to make pets and their owners in Korea more happy. While Koreans love their pets, it is a country where people barely have time to look after themselves, so services that can please pets and owners…

Korean Security Startup ‘Lockin Company’ Promises High End Mobile Security For Startups
2014년 10월 29일

Lockin Company is a Korean ‘mobile application security company’ that has targeted smaller app developers who struggle to afford the more expensive app security services from larger providers. They have recently launched their cloud-based SaaS security service. How it works: App developers upload their package data with their application’s source code to Lockin’s cloud servers. the security layer is then added by Lockin’s technology and sent back to the developers, before being released…

Rakuten Ventures’ Saemin Ahn Discusses Investment Strategy For Asia And North America
2014년 10월 29일

Saemin Ahn leads Rakuten Venture’s strategy and investments in South East Asia, Korea and North America. The size of the current fund is $100 million. Saemin previously led a $10 million fund focused on Singapore, Rakuten’s first in the region. I caught up with him in Seoul to find out where his current VC passions are focused. Currently Rakuten Ventures has invested in once Korean startup, file sharing service, ESTMob. On Discovering Startups…

Can Big Data Implementation In Smart Cities Resolve Issues Raised By Korea’s Ageing Population?
2014년 10월 28일

Korea’s rapidly-aging society, compounded by a decrease in overall population are major issues that Korea is facing. But according to Cisco System’s Dominic Scott, “the solutions lie in big data and Internet of Everything.” He was speaking at the Big Data World Convention, which was recently held at the BEXCO Convention Center in Busan City. Scott explained that the value of a big data network is equivalent to a square of the…

This Korean Startup Is Capitalizing On K-Pop Fever, Attracts 1 Million Users in 7 months
2014년 10월 27일

In many countries KPop and other Korean cultural content, such as dramas and movies are all the rage. While much of this content is available on YouTube and services like DramFever and Viki, there is also a plethora of online music services tapping in to the popularity of KPop music. Beat Packing Company is a new startup in the space that aims to bring KPop to the world through their online music…

Softbank Ventures Assesses The Korean Startup Ecosystem
2014년 10월 25일

Softbank Ventures Korea is one of the most established and successful Venture Capital companies in Korea. Outstanding successes include Sundaytoz and Sunnyloft (acquired by Kakao), and there are dozens of other portfolio companies that are rising stars in the Korean scene. Softbank Ventures is a 100% subsidiary of Softbank Corp. in Japan and manages a $250M fund. The fund is based in Korea, but they take care of investments across Asia and…

Stripes Brings Buying a Shirt Into The Digital World, Raises Series A Investment From Smilegate Ventures
2014년 10월 24일

Stripes is a personal tailoring service that has connected consumers to tailors in the offline space, through technology. They just announced series A Investment from Smilegate Ventures, in a funding round worth $1 million. This is not a new concept and there are dozens of similar services across the world. In fact a friend of mine struck upon the idea around fifteen years ago back in London. What Stripes has though, is first…

Meet Yello Mobile, Aiming To Be Asia’s Top Mobile Platform Company [Part 2]
2014년 10월 24일

Only three years after the first acquisition Yello Mobile has raised $78M, is nurturing an alliance of 35 startups, is profitable to the tune of $1.5M per month and plans to IPO next year. This is surely one of the most exciting startup stories in Asia this year. Here is part two of a two part article about their founding story, growth, and ambitious plans for the future. Click here for part…

[방콕에서 생긴 일 #2] 12개월 동안 12개 스타트업, 디지털 노마드의 성지를 만든 피터 레벨을 만나다
  ·  2014년 10월 24일

방콕의 대표적인 협업 공간 허바(지난 기사: [방콕에서 생긴 일 #1] 태국 스타트업 커뮤니티의 시초, 허바를 만나다)에서의 마지막 주에 있었던 일이다. 허바의 경우 1층은 자유롭게 열린 핫데스크로, 2층은 단독 사무 공간으로 이용되고 있는데, 37코인스는 이 공간을 한 달간 빌려 사무실로 사용하고 있었다. 여느 때처럼 사무실에서 업무를 보고 있는데 갑자기 문을 열고 한 사람이 걸어 들어오더니, 아래층에 행사가 있어 오늘따라 소란스럽다며 옆 자리에서 일을 해도 되겠냐고 물어왔다. 흔쾌히 수락한 후 각자 일을 하다 흘낏…

Korean Adaptive Learning Platform KnowRe Secures $6.8 Million From Softbank
2014년 10월 23일

KnowRe, a Korean education technology company with a cloud-based adaptive learning program for secondary mathematics has just secured $6.8 million in a funding round led by Softbank Ventures. KTB Network Co., LTD, Partners Investment, SparkLabs Global Ventures and a number of other investors joined the round. KnowRe launched in March 2014 after a year-long beta period in which the company hosted a successful pilot program involving dozens of middle and high schools in…

Softbank Ventures Has Invested To Connect Korean Foodies To The Restaurants They Crave
2014년 10월 23일

MangoPlate announced today a series A funding round from Softbank Ventures Korea. As described on their Google Play download page, “MangoPlate is your go-to app for discovering the best restaurants in South Korea. Available in English and Korean, MangoPlate will help you resolve your daily problem of where to eat by connecting you with trustworthy people as well as the best restaurants in South Korea.” Ryan Lee, Executive Director at Softbank Ventures Korea…

Yello Mobile – Perhaps Asia’s most Exciting Startup Story This Year [Part. 1]
2014년 10월 23일

Only three years after the first acquisition Yello Mobile has raised $78M, is nurturing an alliance of 35 startups, is profitable to the tune of $1.5M per month and plans to IPO next year. This is surely one of the most exciting startup stories in Asia this year. Here is part one of a two part article about their founding story, growth, and ambitious plans for the future. Part 2 coming tomorrow….

Meet These Korean Startups Pursuing Opportunity In China
2014년 10월 22일

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…

Is The Korean Government Doing Too Much in Support Of Entrepreneurship?
2014년 10월 22일

“We look forward to another success story with startups here in Daejon,” said President Park Geun-hye during a ceremony to launch yet another innovation center in Korea. While government support for Korean startups has been impressive, is it time for the politicians to take a step back? At some point the ecosystem must be allowed to develop of its own volition and startups surviving off the back of government handouts alone must…

$1 Billion Invested In Startups As Corporates and Government Rally Behind Entrepreneurship
2014년 10월 21일

Sources in the Goverment have confirmed that a total of around $1 billion was invested in startups in the first nine months of the year. This represents a 9.5% increase from a year earlier. The number of startups that received investment also increased to 619 from 579 over the same period. The increase in funding has been attributed to a rise in activity by institutional investors and private venture funds, as well as government investment…

Korean Consumers Swing Back To Apple Thanks To Larger Screen Sizes
2014년 10월 21일

It has been widely reported that Apple’s market penetration has been waining in Korea, in the face of extreme local competition from Samsung and LG. However, a mobile open market research report from Goodmobile has shown that Apple is perhaps back in favor with Korean consumers. After the release of the iPhone in Korea Apple enjoyed a sustained period of popularity, but in the last couple of years the US manufacturers favor…

Three Updates on Korea’s Messaging Privacy War, Kakao Tells Government “No”
2014년 10월 21일

KakaoTalk Confirms They Will NOT Comply with Government Wiretapping Warrants A cyber censorship battle is being waged between the private and public sectors. Daum Kakao CEO Sirgoo Lee in particular has been embroiled in the controversy over cyber surveillance. He explained why he will not comply with government demands for records held on KakaoTalk, citing user privacy as his priority:  “I’ve honored court warrants for eavesdropping so far, but wiretapping warrants violate the law….

존경받는 리더, 그들은 무슨 말을 남겼는가
  ·  2014년 10월 21일

리더의 길은 외롭고, 쉽지 않다. 한 단면을 통해 존경받는 리더의 모든 것을 알기는 어렵지만, 그들의 삶을 이끈 동력이 무엇이었는지를 배우는 것은 별다른 교과서를 가지고 있지 못한 세상 모든 리더들에게 큰 도움이 될 것이다. 오늘은 그들의 육성이 담긴 영상 인터뷰를 통해 존경받는 리더에 대한 인사이트를 전한다.  1. 스티브 잡스 (Steve Jobs / 1955~2011) “훌륭한 인재들은 스스로를 관리합니다. 그들은 남의 관리를 필요로 하지 않죠. 무엇을 해야하는지 아는 순간 그들은 어떻게 해야하는지 스스로 알아냅니다. 관리가 필요…

Seven Curated Stories From The Korean Tech Industry This Week
2014년 10월 20일

  Samsung Ties Up With SK To Develop 5G   South Korea’s top mobile carrier, SK Telecom, said they are partnering with Samsung to develop the 5G industry, seeking early advancement in one of the highly watched mobile sectors. “We signed an MOU to conduct joint research in network technologies and new services related to the 5G,” SK Telecom said. The company currently dominates half of the local mobile market. World First LTE Tech…