Withweb launched Withinnovation as a separate subsidiary in order to focus on the accommodation business. This strategic move seems to have worked given the company revealed on the 8th December that it had secured an investment of US$11m (KRW 13b) from Korea Investment Partners and Mirae Asset Venture investment. In April last year, Withinnovation began servicing the Korean motels with their O2O platform, GoodChoice (Korean ‘Yeo-Gi-O-Dae’ meaning ‘How is this place?’). In total,…

Nthing, a developer of Agriculture IoT (Internet of Things) that connects Plants to People has recently secured investment of US$1.7m (KRW 2b) from KDB Bank (Korea Development Bank). The aim for Nthing seems to be to connect all things ranging from ‘things to things’, ‘things to people’, and ‘people to people’. Their ‘plant to people’ connection solution is named Planty. Planty is a neat pot for plants that is just 170mm high…

2nd December 2015 – K Cube Ventures, investment specialists in mobile, internet and technology have invested US$690k (KRW 800m) into mobile game developer Affinity. Affinity is the developer of mobile game Historia. The Affinity team were specially brought together by Song In Su, the previous director of Joy City, who sought to bring individuals with success in creating popular games. The key team members have an impressive combined experience in creating popular…

Collaboration tool startup ‘collabee’ announces that it has received pre-Series A investment led by Mega Investment and joined by Venture Square.  The undisclosed investment was finalised in November, 2015.  This is their second investment after their initial seed investment from Mashup Angels in May. Collabee aims to disrupt the current market that’s come to be so largely populated by messenger (eg., Slack) and task (eg., Asana) based collaboration tools. Collabee utilises the…

Social Network, a specialist platform servicing Korean trends (wave) has secured an investment of US$4.3m (KRW 5b) from Korea Investment Partners, Mirae Asset Investment, POSCO technical investment and Intellectual Ventures. In 2012, Social Network secured their early stage investment of the same amount from Travel Doctor, Shinhan Bank and Hong Kong’s Evo Revo. The total amount for investment is now close to US$9m (KRW 10b). Productions from Social Network includes; Sketchup, the top…

Mr Pic the operator of used car O2O (online to offline) service ‘ChutCha’ has secured an investment of US$1.3 (KRW 1.5b) from KDB Industry Bank. This investment follows MrPic’s success in July after securing US$1.3m (KRW 1.5b) three way investment from East Gate Partners, DSC Investment and Song Hyun Investment. This brings the yearly investment total to US$2.6m (KRW 3b). Mr Pic, debuted ‘ChutCha’ in January 2015 and has amassed more than 300…

Zitko, a Korean health care wearable device startup has received US$1m (KRW1.2b) investment from IBK Capital and SBA (Seoul Business Agency). This investment follows a recent investment from ‘The Creation Investment’ to bring total for recent investments to US$1.7m (KRW 2b). Zikto is a healthcare product that monitors walking steps and corrects body posture. After releasing their ‘Zikto Walk’ on the 5th of October, the company has received praise for the product’s design…

Chinese Venture Capital (德同资本)company, DT Capital have followed other VCs in the recent trend for Korean beauty products, with an investments into B2Link. This is the fourth investment into the company following investments from DSC Investment in September last year and January this year and an investment from another Chinese company, KTM Network in September. DT Capital have an impressive investment portfolio in over 200 global companies. Since being recognized by Forbes as…

Baemin Fresh, a service dedicated to delivering the freshest food products has acquired ‘The Food’, Korea’s leading traditional side dish delivery service. Following the acquisition, the company announced that it will commence services in household convenience goods as of 23rd November. The Food commenced started in 2005 and since launching the traditional Korean side dish shopping mall has become the leader in this service. To date the company has fulfilled over 700…

On the 23rd November, the acquisition of Padang, a service providing mobile beauty information in Korea (operated by Gentle Family) acquired by Vanity Trove of Singapore, a startup specializing in beauty related information and operation of contents community. Padang was founded by four members with the aim of providing information of beauty shops in Seoul including any promotions, appointments, location, additional information, and customer reviews. Since starting in April 2015, the company had…

Korea’s top car-sharing app maker ‘Socar’ has successfully secured a series B investment from SK and Brookside Capital part of Bain Capital for an amount of US$56m (KRW 65b). In October 2014, Socar secured a Series A investment of US$15.5m (KRW 18b) which was used to secured the required vehicle and parking infrastructure which in turn paved the way for growth and offering of new services. As a result of this earlier investment, Socar…

On the 20th November, Birdview, the company behind ‘Hwahae’ Korea’s most popular mobile cosmetics app, revealed that it had been successfully acquired by the NICE group. Hwahae (Cosmetic Analyst) allows its users to easily recognize chemical and active constituents contained within each cosmetic product. The review of each cosmetic product is sorted by the skin type relevant to the user. Since its debut in July 2013, Hwahae has amassed more than 1.5…

Stripes, an O2O startup offering tailored men’s fashion has secured additional investment US$4.3m. On the 2nd November, the company, determined to become a comprehensive brand for men’s fashion launched its first oversea branch in Singapore. Lee Seung Jun from the company commented, “After studying the Asian market, we determined a high consumer preference towards Korean products”. The company plans on further oversea launches following the acquisition of ‘Dream Factory’ a manufacturer of luxury…

Social activity platform Friend Trip revealed on the 17th November that it had received US$1.2m (KRW 1.5b) in new investment. This is the second investment for the company and follows a US$500l (KRW 500m) last June. Friend Trip commenced as a startup with the aim of creating an innovative approach to interacting with leisure and travel culture. The platform delivers on this objective by creating a communication platform connecting new people based on…

Korean smartphone accessory startup ‘Bench Soft’ has garnered much attention from the market with its unprecedented type of USB memory device. “Xl.i.CON Flash Memory” is Bench Soft’s USB flash memory that sticks like a magnet when it is used with its ingenious iPhone smartphone case made with the X-Link technology. CES recognized Bench Soft’s remarkable idea, and gave the award to the USB flash memory and case set. The CES Innovation Awards…

On the 17th November, Softbank ventures announced that it had made an investment into HyperConnect a communication application startup. The total of the investment was revealed to be US$8.6m (KRW 10b) and was provided jointly with Altos Ventures. HyperConnect Inc. started in March last year with the aim to connect the people of the world with the most effective and economical means. Their communication app ‘Azar’ allows easy live chat with other users…

Editor’s note: Senior Director Corporate Development at Baedal Minjok I. There is a Chaebol in Korea that is nameless. No HQ, no CEO, not even an email. It has massive worldwide influence; setting trends in Asia within a matter of hours. The nation’s economy fluctuates with the slightest movement of this corporation. The organization’s dominant power and reach far surpass the ranks of Samsung, LG, and Hyundai. Combined. There is not a…

Woman’s Talk, Korea’s first online mobile beauty home shopping has succeeded in attaining a Series A investment of US$1.7m (KRW2b). With their launch in February titled ‘Korea’s first online beauty home shopping’, Woman’s Talk is the leading video commerce platform in Korea. The platform relies on a distinctively unique marketing strategy, utilizing a range of product ambassadors that appear in their media including reporters, actors, show hosts, comedians, Youtube channel hosts and…

Makeus, a Multi Channel Network startup has successfully secured the largest Korean investment into MCN (Multi Channel Network) in recent news. The investment totaling US$17.4 (KRW 20b) has been provided by venture capital companies DSC Investment, KTB Network, Capstone Partners and Stonebridge Capital secures US$17.4 m. With the rising trend towards new media, MCN companies have been attracting great interest from investment companies.  Of the recent investments into similar companies, this is…

Kakao Corp. (KOSDAQ 035720) today reported third quarter financial results under Korean-IFRS. Kakao’s consolidated revenue for the quarter was KRW 229.6 billion with mobile businesses making up 56%. For the third quarter, Kakao focused on actively identifying and promoting new ideas and business opportunities. This led to uniform growth in mobile businesses, and consolidated revenue for the quarter grew 1.4% QoQ and 3.5% YoY. Kakao’s commerce platform showed the greatest growth in…