Here is the investment news for Korean startups from 4th January 2021 to 10th January 2021. Let’s move on.
It is now the beginning of the year. Twenty-four startups secured funding this week, totaling KRW 262.7 billion (US$240 million).
Kakao Enterprises secured its Series A funding with KRW 100 billion (US$ 92 million) from KDB. Kakao Enterprise’s attracted investment broke the KDB Bank’s single investment amount record since it was established.
The post-money value of Kakao Enterprise is KRW 1.1 trillion (US$ 1 billion).
The business model of Kakao Enterprise is enterprise SW. Its solution – similar to Slack – is in the area of Communication SaaS service.
Jiran Comms attracted 1/100 of the investment amount compared with Kakao Enterprise this week.
1. Pre-IPO, Series D, and Series C Funding
| Startup | Amount | Business Model | Investor(s) |
| SAMG Animation (Pre-IPO) | KRW 16B (US$ 15M) | Animation production studio | NH Investment & Securities Sangsang Ventures GAIA Venture Partners Capital One History Investment Management |
| 4D Replay (D) | KRW 16B (US$ 15M) | Image and video processing for sports content analysis | UBIQUOSS Investment J Tsai Sports Enterprises |
| Intocell (C) | KRW 34B (US$ 31M) | Development of targeted anticancer drugs | Atinum Investment Winvest Venture Capital K Net Venture Capital Seoul Investment Partners ST Capital Friend Investment Partners DA Value Investment Orbit Partners Brave New |
| Dable (C) | KRW 14B (US$ 13M) | Media Curation Platform | KB Investment SV Investment K2 Investment Partners Kakao Ventures |
2. Series B Funding
| Startup | Amount | Business Model | Investor(s) |
| Greenlabs | KRW20B (US$ 18M) | Agritech Startup | Magna Investment Hashed Main Street Investment |
| AKA Intelligence | KRW19B (US$ 17M) | AI-based communication Robotics | EOGF Partners QUAD Investment Management Sangbum KIM |
| D.Code | KRW10B (US$ 9M) | Personalized luxury goods recommendation eCommerce | Neoplux SV Investment Yuanta Securities KT Investment Mirae Asset Ventures |
| Tasty9 | KRW7B (US$6.4M) | Home Meal Replacement manufacturer | LB Investment SV Investment |
| Miride | KRW3B (US$2.7M) | Design Platform | G N Tec Venture Capital |
3. Series A funding
| Startup | Amount | Business Model | Investor(s) |
| Kakao Enterprise | KRW100B (US$ 90M) | Communication Tool and Cloud Service. | KDB Bank. |
| Superb AI | KRW11B (US$10M) | Data processing for AI and Big Data Analysis | Atinum Investment Premier Partners Stonebridge Ventures |
| Wealthguide | KRW3.1B (US$2.6M) | Asset management service | KB Investment SNU Tech Holdings KTB Securities P&P Investment |
| PPLINK | KRW2.1B (US$1.9M) | On-demand Online communication SW | Strong Ventures Behigh Investment Klim Ventures |
| Nine Corporation | KRW2.1B (US$1.9M) | Game engine based on Blockchain | Naver D2SF Honest Ventures We Ventures Block Crafters |
| Sendy | KRW 1B (US$ o.9M) | Logistics Brokerage Service | Korea Venture Investment Behigh Investment |
| Jiran Comms | KRW 1B (US$ o.9M) | Enterprise Communication SW | Laguna Investment |
| Rideflux | N/A | Autonomous Driving SW | Socar |
4. Pre-A Series Funding
| Startup | Amount | Business Model | Investor(s) |
| Plating | KRW 1.3B (US$ 1.2M) | Food and Catering delivery Service | Strong Ventures SBA |
| Gatda | KRW 1B (US$ 0.9M) | Mobile Based Garbage Processing Service | Shinhan Capital Shinhan Investment Impact Square |
5. Seed Funding
| Startup | Amount | Business Model | Investor(s) |
| SEIin | KRW100M (US$ 90k) | Door control system based on robotics | Company A |
| KDAC | N/A | Asset management based on Blockchain | Shinhan Bank |
| HD Junction | N/A | EMR System and Management | Naver D2SF |
| Awake Corporation | N/A | Social Media Analysis Chatbot | Buzzvil |
| Kaier | N/A | Deep-tech AI | Futureplay |
