Meet 7 Korean startups that are poised to break out

Seoul-based startup accelerator SparkLabs hosted its first demo day in Tokyo earlier this week, bringing along seven early-stage ventures hoping to break into Japanese and international markets. Each team was given an opportunity to present their product or service to the event’s approximately 100 attendees, which included a number of high-profile venture capitalists, corporate tech executives, angel investors, fellow entrepreneurs, and journalists.

The event wasn’t a competitive pitch contest, but rather an opportunity to expose startups with a market fit to potential Japanese investors or collaborators. Here’s a brief description of each startup, in no particular order.

Next Makers

Shooting a television commercial or promotional video can cost millions of dollars, especially if it features a famous celebrity. Next Makers wants to lower the barrier of entry by tapping YouTube stars and connecting them directly to brands that want to produce viral videos featuring their products. Campaigns start at just US$100.

To use the service, brands simply suggest a campaign title, provide a budget range, and write a brief proposal. They can then browse relevant creators and initiate a one-on-one chat to work out the details. Transactions are done through escrow – the startup holds the payment until the finished video is published.

Next Makers says that its current pool of YouTube talent has a combined reach of more than 120 million subscribers. More than 130 campaigns have already been completed and 50 percent of brands have returned for additional video clips. The startup says it earned US$39,000 in revenue so far this month and plans to recruit 20,000 content creators from YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, and WeChat by the end of next year.

WaHome

South Korea as a whole sees 200,000 home cleaning transactions a day – but only 20 percent are satisfied with existing services. The reason, according to on-demand cleaning startup WaHome, is that many cleaners haven’t been properly trained and their businesses aren’t insured in the event that something is damaged.

WaHome’s app connects certified, fully-insured home cleaners to users with messy homes and apartments. Each of the startup’s cleaners goes through an in-house training program (facilitated by former trainers at the Hyatt and Conrad hotel chains) before being dispatched with an extensive cleaning kit that WaHome also provides. 50 new cleaners are trained a day. The service is currently targeting working mothers and housewives in Korea, with plans to expand into Japan and Hong Kong.

The startup claims to be growing 22 percent each week since it launched in July and says that it has a customer satisfaction rate of 98 percent. A number of Korean celebrities are customers and WaHome hopes to extend its service offering to laundry, interior design, electrical work, and general handyman repairs.

WaHome raised US$1 million in seed funding from SparkLabs Global Ventures, Mashup Angels, and Fast Track Asia earlier this month.

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