Don’t Miss Out On The Startup Funding: the First Week Of 2021
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 |