October, November & December
4th Quarter
South Korea’s tech, startup and VC funding news from across October, November and December of 2019, focusing on early stage startups.
For technology-specific news for the most recent month, visit the Other News section, covering blockchain, artificial intelligence, fintech and cryptocurrency news across the 17 jurisdictions that we cover.
October 2019 • November 2019 • December 2019
October 2019
- Korea Blockchain Ratings launches to examine the technical and business feasibility of blockchain projects, aiming to deliver reliable info to investors
- A brief look at some of the blockchain projects being undertaken by major Korean companies
- Samsung in China: A few years back, 1 in 5 smartphones sold in-country made by Samsung; today, it’s shutting down its last factory
- An overview of the growing activities and investments by South Korean VC funds across Southeast Asia
- South Korea: ICONLOOP blockchain secures $8M Series A with digital identification services focusing on banks, security firms, e-commerce and manufacturing
- South Korea: Mathpresso edu-tech startup and developer of tutoring app Qanda raises $14.5M on back of Vietnam, Singapore, Japan and Indonesia presence
- South Korea: SoftBank Ventures Asia Corp VC unit partners Korea Venture Investment Corp for AI-focused fund to groom Korean AI startups
- Korea-India fintech True Balance raises $23M with 300K daily digital transactions; gains non-banking financial company license from Reserve Bank of India
- South Korea: Seoul Metropolitan City unveils plan to become ‘Global Open Platform City’, aiming to foster international startups
- South Korea: Payvil cross-border mobile payments platform expands services to Hong Kong and Thailand, with sights on 16-country coverage by year-end
- South Korea: An intro to Neocomix, animated ‘webtoon’ publishing management startup with sights set on South America, India and wider Southeast Asia
- South Korea: An intro to Willim’s 3linediary app, ’emotional content’ platform that helps users capture life experiences in 3 lines and a photo
- South Korea: Doongle social media app aims to be the platform for global travelers to make local friends
- South Korea: Coinplug blockchain startup raises $6.4M with bitcoin exchange, wallet and payment processing services
- South Korea: HAII launches Chemi dating app, using AI and an algorithm to analyze voice characteristics and content to recommend a compatible partner
- India: Bithumb Global, South Korean crypto and token exchange, to open crypto exchange in India despite anti-cryptocurrency climate
- Vietnam: South Korea’s Woori Financial Group launches Digital Innovation Lab Vietnam to strengthen ties between Korean and Vietnamese fintech startups
November 2019
- South Korea: CODE42 gains $25M backing led by Kia Motors with autonomous transport-as-a-service platform
- South Korea: PUBLISH takes Best Digital Media Startup award from World Newspaper Association with blockchain applications for the traditional news industry
- A brief intro to the 10 South Korean startups that presented at the recent ‘K-Content Startup In Japan’ event
- UN Security Council report identifies North Korea as using Hong Kong-based blockchain company to launder money to dodge sanctions
- A look at the structural challenges around startup innovation in South Korea
- Korea Internet Security to provide $9M in funding to 6 startups across 10 projects, with digital tokens assisting with funding
- South Korea: FirmaChain digital contract management startup gains backing with Stabledocs, blockchain-based electronic contract solution
- South Korea: Shinhan Bank to build a blockchain-based loan management platform
- South Korea: A look at the recent ‘Connecting Korean Fintechs with Asia’ event, held by the World Bank Group’s IFC
- South Korea: A look at Globis Infotech’s XELF, HTML5-based cloud content-creating platform, producing Flash-like animations
- South Korea: MaaS Asia micro-mobility startup launches upgraded electric kickboards for Gogossing sharing service, currently providing 600 in Gangnam district
- SE Asia’s first Korea Startup Centre set for Singapore launch in 2020, supported by South Korea’s Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Enterprise Singapore
- Video: Samsung Blockchain’s official introduction
- South Korea’s SMEs and Startups Minister talks of government proposal to create a startup organization spanning Korean and ASEAN countries on sidelines of summit
- South Korea: Upbit crypto exchange hacked, losing Ether cryptocurrency to teh value of $49M
- South Korea: A brief overview of the recent D.Day event, one of the country’s longest running startup demo days, held in Busan
December 2019
- South Korea: Bluevisor takes Oracle Innovation Challenge win with AI-based asset management solution
- South Korea: An intro to Drama & Company’s Remember, business card app aiming to make its mobile platform an Asian version of LinkedIn
- South Korea: An intro to Blind, social networking app for workers to share information about companies and working conditions anonymously
- An overview of why South Korea may be primed for a fintech boom
- South Korea: An overview of the recent K-Startup ComeUp2019 event held in Seoul which provided startups with networking and pitching opportunities
- South Korea: An intro to Odd Pilot, platform for furniture brands to create AR for online shopping, via tools to create 3D models and upload as 3D images
- South Korea: A look at the 7 startup pitches made at the recent 4th Season of BCapitalist Program run by Blockchain Investment Academy
- South Korea: A look at the 9 startups that pitched at last month’s Korea Creative Content Agency’s LAUNCHPAD LA 2019 event in Los Angeles
- South Korea to launch open banking system this month, following 10-bank trial project
- South Korea: Techstars Korea accelerator opens application process for first in-country program, primarily looking at 3 categories of tech
- An overview of the achievements, milestones and success stories created by WeWork Labs in South Korea in 2019
- South Korea: Konstellation blockchain solutions provider in finance unveils Konstellation Venture Studio aiming to bootstrap economy around its DARC token
- An overview of how South Korea has proven over the last few years that it can enter the top tier of worldwide startup hubs
- South Korea: Viva Republica, PayPal-backed startup and creator of financial services platform Toss, secures preliminary approval for digital bank for new Toss Bank
- South Korea’s Terra blockchain payment network expands to Singapore, opening SEA hub with aim of securing licensing from monetary authority
- South Korea: A look at the growth of app-and-device tech startups, working in education, music, fitness and more
- A look at how data journalism’s empirical focus is helping restore faith in media in South Korea
- South Korea: ATU Partners private equity firm launches $17M growth fund, the regions first to focus purely on esports-related firms
- North Korea’s Lazarus hacking group found to have expanded with development and use of new Trojan attack focused on Linux systems, named Dacls
- Crypto expert and member of Ethereum project arrested for presenting in North Korea around using cryptocurrency and blockchain to avoid sanctions
- Indonesia’s MDI Ventures and South Korea’s KB Investment partner for US$30M joint fund to focus on startup investments in SE Asia
- Centauri Fund growth-stage VC fund launches with backing from Telkom Indonesia and South Korea’s KB Financial Group, aiming for $150M corpus
- Indonesia’s Travelio, fast-changing property-technology startup, gains backing from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation
Startup News: Korea
Keep up-to-the-minute with South Korea’s startup news:
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