“We think about ourselves more as a tutoring-based approach, a one-to-one approach”
Mark Tetto, The Ventures
The Ventures was founded early in 2014 by Changseong Ho and Jiwon Moon, who formerly created Viki, a community-driven distribution platform for TV contents. The company was acquired last year by Japanese Rakuten for $200 million.
The Ventures works very closely with startups for an un-specified period of time. Startups receive office space, mentoring and professional support until they are ready to enter the market.
“We are less industry-focused, as each of our 11 portfolio companies focuses on a different industry. More than anything we look for the right team and the global focus."
Find out about Korea's other top accelerators here.
The special thing The Ventures can bring to its’ startups is their broad Silicon Valley network. Additionally, the team have gained experience scaling their own product globally, and startups in their accelerator benefit from this. Startups interested in joining The Ventures need to have global potential and there must be ways in which they can actually benefit from the experiences which The Ventures team possess.
“Without a doubt, the global startup hub is Silicon Valley. for Europe and the Middle East it is Isreal. I really feel that in Asia that hub will become Korea.”
Having asked about the startup ecosystem in Korea, Mark Tetto highlighted the strong potential of Korea in becoming a leading startup hub in Asia. This is mostly due to the fact that the Korean government is showing more support through funding, building co-working spaces and providing other resources. Further, Korean investors are willing to take higher levels of risk, that typically result in higher returns, if successful. In addition, private foundations have been showing interest in supporting the startup ecosystem financially. According to Mark Tetto, all of those resources together are creating a “wave of momentum” that is quickly accelerating the growth of a startup ecosystem in Seoul.
Find out about Korea's other top accelerators here.
