South Korea Digest – 21 Jul

Here you can find some interesting startup news from South Korea, not only in its capital, Seoul, but also other their startup hubs such as Busan, Incheon, Ulsan and many more. These news are taken from our partner, onsuccess, a media enterprise on start-ups and ventures in Korea.

(1) On 13 July, Bon Angels announced it has invested a total of 300 million Korean won(US$0.28 million) in April and July, in a mobile application development company, ‘Woowa Bros‘. Woowa Bros is well known for its application ‘Smart Baedal’, which provides information on nearby caterer’s shops, and allows users to call them right away with one touch.

(2) Ablar Company announced it has succeeded in attracting 2 billion(US$189.27 million) Korean won from Stonebridge Capital, a company that has discovered and invested in startups that have gained much attention nowadays such as Ticketmonster, Answers, Bluehall, and so on. Ablar Company launched a beta service called TableK this February, a social network that connects local shop owners with customers online and offline. Its CEO Chester Jungseok Roh has previously founded TNC (Tatter and Company), which was acquired by Google in 2008.

(3) WeMakePrice, a leading social commerce enterprise, has declared Min Heo as CEO and is changing its system to a local-based portal service on 14 July. Min Heo is a well-known celebrity for being the former CEO of Neople and creating Dungeon&Fighter, a game which has generated 300 million users worldwide and raised 100 billion Korean won(US$9.46 billion)  in revenue. Mr Heo is currently a major investor in WeMakePrice and is planning to invest an additional 10 billion Korean won in the company.

(4) Open Recruiting Day was held last Saturday(16 July) at Seoul National University, hosted by Venturesquare. 14 unique startups participated in this event, which aims to discover talented people with passion and drive for entrepreneurship. Part 1 consisted of a short pitch by startups. Part 2 had Q&A sessions and company booths where people could freely ask about the enterprises and recruiting process.

(5) The ‘2nd 3-year FDI(Foreign Direct Investment) plan’ was announced on July 14 by the Foreign Investment Committee, presided by the government’s Ministry of Knowledge Economy. The government plans to increase investment in related sectors, especially ones that increase economic development, employment, and local development and give incentives, such as a 50-70% tax reduction and much more. This plan especially focuses on attracting investments from emerging capital economies, such as China, Middle east, and Russia. KOTRA, Invest Korea, and so on are creating a 100 billion Korean won fund to attract FDI.

(6) KOVA(Korea Venture Business Association) launched ‘Startup Venture Forum’ this 15 July. This forum was inspired by opinions from the monthly event ‘Venture 7day marketplace,’ which reached its first anniversary this July, and intends to provide networking, education and coaching programs for preliminary and early-stage entrepreneurs. Dongshin, Kim, CEO of Paprika Lab, was elected as first chairman.

This has been brought to you by SGE and Onsuccess. Onsuccess is a media enterprise for start-ups and ventures in Korea. Onsuccess introduces innovative Korean start-ups and ventures to people overseas through media partners and inspires readers by sharing interesting business ideas and trends from all over the world. Furthermore, Onsuccess holds various events, offering actual chances for Korean start-ups and ventures to meet other start-ups, venture business partners and investors abroad. They publish in both Korean and English.

We thank nordicfactory for the flag image.