From humble beginning in 2012 as beLAUNCH, beGLOBAL has successfully concluded the seventh startup conference beGLOBAL in both Korea and U.S. To date, the event has been attended by 15,000 people from over 25 countries. To more than 4,000 startups, the event has become a global networking platform. beGLOBAL SF 2015 will be held in San Francisco on the 15th of October and will provide an opportunity for Korean domestic startups to network with…

K Venture Group, a specialist investment branch of Kakao has acquired a majority (51%) stake in top beauty solution company ‘Hasys’.  Hasys is the developer and service provider of client management solutions for salons, facial salons, and nail shops. Their beauty client management solutions ‘HairJjang’ and ‘Beauty Jjang’ as at September 2015 maintain more than 9,600 clients. This represents 69% of the market for beauty company client management solutions. On the topic…

On the 14th October, global online music distribution service provider Pison Contents announced a $1m (KRW 1.1b) investment for their music-spray distribution technology. The investment is a combined total from Silicon Valley venture capital Sazze Partners, a Korean primer investor, and startup business program (TIPS) which is state operated by the small business agency. Although Pison Contents is headquartered in Korea, their offices and research centres are operated in USA, France and China….

K Cube Ventures, which specializes in investments into mobile, internet and technology companies confirmed on the 13th of October an investment of US1.7m (KRW 2b) into Saltlab a first person shooting game developer. Saltlab was formed in 2007 by gathering  top talent with experiences in famous award winning Korean games ‘Aba’, ‘Metro Conflict’ and ‘Red Doc’. Most team members have more than 10 year experience in the genre of  first person shooting game, in either development…

Since beginning in 2012 as beLAUNCH, beGLOBAL has grown and successfully concluded the 7 startup conferences in Korea and U.S. On the 15th October, the event’s U.S. annual event will be hosted at the ‘The Village’ in San Francisco.  In the ecosystem of startups, beGLOBAL San Francisco 2015 provides invaluable networking opportunities between Asia and U.S . So for budding startups and investors looking at the next top technology startup from Asia, the following provide three reasons why you should attend this event.  Key…

Looncup, a smart menstrual cup will give women a better understanding of your monthly flow. It can be inserted into women’s vaginas during period. It can send the data including fluid volume and color and analyze the data by comparing it from previous data. Looncup is made of silicone with a sensor, battery and Bluetooth antenna. It can be connected through bluetooth to an app on your iPhone, Android or Apple Watch, and can…

Editor’s note: Senior Director Corporate Development at Baedal Minjok I. There is no greater time to be in Korea than now. Yes, that’s coming from a Korean American that has lived his entire life in the Bay Area and landed in Seoul 10 months ago. Hard to digest right? ( I can feel the collective eye roll of native Koreans ) 이사람, 진짜 미쳤다… My grasp of the language is mediocre at…

Venticake, the developer of camera app ‘Retrica’ has secured investments totalling US$5.9m (KRW 7b) from US venture capitals Bessemer Venture Capitals, Goodwater Capital and Altos Ventures. With more than 250 million downloads globally, Retrica is a camera app market leader throughouth Asia and South America. The company plans to target new geographical areas as well as concentrate efforts on improvements for existing users. The experience of Venticake come from various IT fields;…

12CM the original developer of ‘smart-stamp’ technology has received US$4.4m (KRW 5.2b) worth of investments from Korean domestic investments institutions. The four-way joint investment contributors are Capstone Partners, KDB Development Bank, Aju Investment Bank and Suprema Investment. For Capstone Partners, the investment is a follow up to their early stage investment in the company in late 2014. In developing smart-stamp technology, 12CM have registered more than 200 patents and to integrate into industry…

Editor’s Note: Choon Yan (CY) Tan leads PayPal and Braintree’s startup, accelerator and incubator activities across Asia Pacific. He has experience in banking technology, and previously led Google’s supply chain integration team in California, with additional specialties in data analytics on Google Android and Chrome products. CY is also a payment optimisation mentor in various major accelerators such as ONL, MaGIC and SBC and a speaker at regional startup conferences such as…

StudyMax, is a Korean startup that develops English educational content optimized for today’s highly mobile society. On the 7th October, investments totalling US$3.8m (KRW 4.5b) lead by LB Investment, DS Investment and two other venture capitals was confirmed. Past investments secured by the company include an early stage investment by Bon Angel Venture Partners in 2010 and a Series A investment from NeoPlug in 2012. This new investment comes three year after…

Daily Hotel, a Korean hotel reservation app has received an investment from Silicon Valley’s Sequoia Capital, a venture capital that invested into Apple and Google. This marks the third investment for Daily Hotel following Bon Angels (a venture capital primer) backing of the company earlier this year. For Sequoia which traditionally makes investments in the USA, this is the just the second investment into a Korean company with the first being Coupang. Shin In Shik…

Althea the top Korean beauty commerce company in South East Asia has been successful in securing an investment from 500Startups, which is among the best known Silicon Valley venture capitals. Although the company was only launched in April this year, they successfully secured an early stage investment with Bon Angels in May. Five months down the track, they have caught the eye of Silicon Valley’s 500Startups with a new investment. Key members of…

On the 6th, the joint investment was confirmed between K Cube Ventures, a specialist investor into internet, mobile and technology and Partners Investment. The investment is into a game company Kong Doo Company which specializes in MCN (Multi Channel Network) for games and the investment worth US$1.7m (KRW 2b) Kong Doo Company Professional is Korea’s premier gaming MCN originally starting with StarCraft gamers Hong Jin Ho and Kim Taek Young. For the…

Each year, beSUCCESS which is Asia’s leading network for startup and technology media, hosts local events both in Korea and USA. Following on from the successful completion of ‘beGLOBAL Seoul 2015’ in May, ‘beGLOBAL San Francisco 2015’ will be held on the 15th October. Hosting these two annual events has created a vital link between Asia and America in discovering startup talent. The upcoming San Francisco event is expected to create instrumental…

Since beginning in 2012 as beLAUNCH, beGLOBAL has grown and successfully concluded the seventh startup conference beGLOBAL in both Korea and the U.S. To date, the event has been attended by 15,000 people from over 25 countries. To more than 4,000 startups, the event has become a global networking platform. beGLOBAL SF 2015 will be held in San Francisco, on the 15th of October and will provide an opportunity for Korean domestic startups…

Korea’s largest angel investor, Primer, teamed up with US-based eCommerce investor, Sazze, to invest in Indie CF aiming to revolutionize mobile advertising with their service Hooreel that connects people in need of video ads to capable directors. Hooreel puts the power of an entire video production studio in the palm of every smartphone user, enabling people to plan, edit and broadcast their own viral marketing videos. With this investment, Hooreel plans to expand their…

On the 1st October, CoinPlug, a Fintech company specializing in blockchain technology using bitcoins, announced that it had secured US$4.2m (KRW 5b) in investments from domestic investors. Atinum Investment lead the investment along with other investors including KB Investment and SBI Investments. Uh Jun Sun CoinPlug’s representative said, “This investment activity from local investors highlights the rising importance of blockchain technology”. He added the company was, “Delighted that CoinPlug has become the first blockchain…

Way Wearble, the developer of ‘Way’ the world’s first skin care IoT solution has received an investment from Amore Pacific which is Asia’s leading cosmetics·beauty corporation. Way Wearable is preparing for mass production and service development of Wave with the planned global launch to occur later this year. The investment amount has not been disclosed. Way Wearable first is the world’s first to incorporate IoT (Internet of Things) in skin care. The technology…

  Wishket, a startup specialist in IT outsourcing has received a US$1 million (KRW 1.2b) investment from Smilegate Investment and Mega Investment. Wishket is an online outsourcing platform linking IT projects with IT specialists that can carry out the work. When a company registers a project on Wishket, prospective talent are able to anonymously tender their proposals. The various proposals are organized in concisely and in a format easy to compare. In the process…