Seoul holds NYC summit for local start-ups

[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s state-run agencies held a conference in New York City on June 15 (local time) to help local start-ups gain foothold in the U.S. Korea’s trade promotion agency KOTRA and Small and Medium Business Administration hosted “Korea Startup Summit NYC 2016” at New York City’s Microsoft Technology Center, inviting 15 promising local start-ups and five start-ups that have already entered the U.S. market. More than 50 investors from major American cities, including New York City, Bost

June 16, 2016

247 Korea to launch self-defense smartphone case via Kickstarter next month

[THE INVESTOR] Start-up company 247 Korea announced that it would be launching a self-defense smartphone case through crowdfunding site Kickstarter in July. If the launch via Kickstarter is successful, the company plans to pitch its product on Indiegogo, another crowdfunding site, as well. Intended to serve as a means of self-defense, the smartphone case developed and produced by 247 Korea is equipped with a Taser-like stun gun that extends from the case upon the recognition of the user’s finger

June 16, 2016

Korea opens global startup center at Pangyo campus

[THE INVESTOR] A “global business support center” was opened in the Pangyo Startup Campus – the hub for digital business startups – on June 15. The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said that the center will be a “gateway” for local startups to engage with overseas investors and to enter foreign markets. The center is responsible for establishing a database of information related to startups here and provide potential overseas investors with this information.  Pangyo Startup Campus.It

June 15, 2016

Korean start-up aims to dominate space for smartphone lock screens

An old habit sometimes becomes an inspiration for inventors or entrepreneurs to make achievements. For John Lee, the chief executive of reward-based mobile advertising platform operator Buzzvil, note-taking is a habit that has long served as a driving force behind his successful entrepreneurship which started early in his life.The CEO, a voluminous note-taker since he was grade school student, keeps more than 3,000 pieces of paper, on which he scribbled down his ideas and thoughts, at his home.J

May 18, 2016

Start-ups form alliance for joint online-to-off-line services

A group of South Korea’s leading start-ups announced Wednesday that they would join forces to invigorate the online-to-off-line sector, in which many, if not all, are bleeding cash due largely to high marketing costs.Representatives of five start-ups -- SOCAR, Yogiyo, Yanolja, Mesh Korea, and Spoqa -- said they would form the O2O Alliance, seeking collaboration among the rising firms in the Korean start-up scene.(Starting from second from left) Shin Seung-ho of SOCAR, Ryu Jeong-beom of Mesh Kore

April 27, 2016

Winter is coming for Korea's start-up funding

In terms of funding rounds, 2015 was the Korean start-up scene’s seven years of plenty. E-commerce giant Coupang and start-up acquisition machine Yello Mobile raised multibillion-dollar valuations from big-name global investors SoftBank and Formation 8, respectively, while disclosed investments across the industry are estimated to have doubled on-year, according to data by start-up news outlet Tech in Asia.But tech businesses are not immune to economic realities, where the Korean currency has wi

Feb. 17, 2016

Korean start-ups eye Southeast Asian tech boom

As global-bound Korean start-ups struggle to break into the fray of competition in the U.S. and China, a handful are seeking the road less traveled, but booming with potential -- to Southeast Asia.　Internet penetration from the Philippines to Indonesia has more than quadrupled in the past five years as rising incomes and rapidly developing infrastructure have allowed nearly 200 million users across the diverse region access to mobile services. 　And the popularity of Korean pop culture, from musi

Jan. 20, 2016

Korea can surpass Israel’s start-up success: Yozma Korea chief

In the early 1990s, Israel’s flagging economy struggled to take on a population influx after the fall of the Soviet Union. With few resources to help pull the country out of the economic doldrums and high unemployment, the conflict-zone country turned to a new growth engine: technology.Powered by heavy government and foreign investment, Israel has now developed into a “start-up nation” with high-tech industries fueling economic growth since 2000 by building from scratch a healthy ecosystem that

Jan. 13, 2016

Braille smartwatch start-up catches global PR wave

A Korean start-up swept headlines around the globe last year for developing a $300 braille smartwatch that it said would help solve illiteracy for the blind. Dot Inc. became one of the most hyped Korean hardware start-ups both locally and abroad, with its baby-faced CEO Eric Ju-yoon Kim, 25, speaking at events including a TEDx conference in Mumbai and Herald Corp.’s own Herald Design Forum.Yet no one has even seen the watch work. Its commercial launch, originally slated for last month, has been

Jan. 6, 2016