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….

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…

Established in 2009, the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) Beijing is arguably Asia’s most influential mobile industry conference. Taking place on May 5-6, 2014, GMIC will attract over 10,000 mobile industry executives, entrepreneurs, developers and investors from 30+ countries. This year, as part of our partnership with GMIC, our own Global Director, Nathan Millard, will be moderating a panel with four of Asia’s top investors from Korea, Japan, and China to discuss…

Investing in Korean startups can be a tough job for Venture Capitalists. Despite amazing growth over the last two to three in the venture ecosystem, we will have to wait for a further five years or more to see the fruits of this second push for a creative economy in Korea over the last ten years. As we know, VCs base their earning potential on few successful investments that can generate enormous…

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…

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…

DataBeat — VentureBeat’s second annual big data conference on May 19-20 in San Francisco— is laser-focused on helping companies increase profitability through smart analytics and big data tools. Now that data is driving their decisions, growth-oriented executives are confronting a bewildering set of options.  They’re gathering the brightest minds in the industry to filter through the noise and give new insights on technologies and strategies that will accelerate growth. beSUCCESS is offering a 15% discount on tickets and…

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….

Korea, once referred to as the ‘Land of the Morning Calm,’ is emerging as one of the key startup hubs in Asia. I have witnessed firsthand the exponential pace of change in this once conservative and shy nation over the last ten years, and I am encouraged by the hunger with which local founders are embracing the challenge and opportunity presented by entrepreneurship. As predictable and arduous corporate careers begin to lose…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Startup Asia in Singapore has just ended and the team has already announced their 2014 winners and runners up. While the top spot and $10k prize went to a Hong Kong team, Bindo, first runners up are a team that will also be showcasing at beLAUNCH 2014 in Seoul next week, May 14-15. Kairos Watches, a South Korea-based startup that manufactures a hybrid mechanical smartwatch . Second runner-up is Asli Goli, a…

I got in touch with some of our top speakers in the run-up to beLAUNCH next week and was quite blown away by their enthusiasm for coming to Seoul to see for themselves why Korea is blowing up in the global startup consciousness. Below are a few of these quotations: Eric Migicovsky, CEO Pebble “It has been interesting to see the emergence of Korea as one of the most important high-tech nations…

BeLaunch 2014 kicks off this Wednesday in Dongdaemun, but It’s a fair bet that some of the contenders in this year’s startup battle are still perfecting their presentations. I did competitive pitches for almost 10 years in the PR industry and now I’m telling the world about my current company. From this experience, I’ve found some clear attributes that winning pitches have. Here’s the list: 1. Tell a Great Story Your slides…

Originally Posted by TechInAsia ESTmob, the Seoul-based team behind file-sharing app Send Anywhere revealed today it has completed a US$1 million seed round led by Rakuten Ventures. ESTmob co-founder Suhyuk Kang said that they will use the funding to expand their user-base around the globe and ramp up the app’s feature set. Send Anywhere delivers a basic, somewhat mundane utility to device owners. After one downloads the app, a user selects a…

Over the last year collaboration between the startup ecosystems in North and South Asia has seen greatly increased velocity as resources come together to enable the rising tide in Asian entrepreneurship to accelerate. And in recent days Joyful Frog Digital Incubator (JFDI), an accelerator based in Singapore, and the Banks Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs (Banks Foundation) a community centre for Korean entrepreneurs in Seoul, have announced a partnership. This formal collaboration aims to…

Hello Market, who have just announced their first funding round of $2.5M, is a C2C marketplace platform service that allows users to sell, buy, and exchange goods and services through mobile platforms (Android, iOS) as well as the web. According to Co-Founder Alber Hahn their goal now is to continue to apply, update, and expand upon the craigslist C2C commerce model, with a current focus on further expansion into Japan. The Hello Market…