[StartupRecipe] Series A Funding Remains in the Chills

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[Dec. 18 ~ Dec. 22]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW 61.05 Billion.

Company	Inudustry	Amount	Round	Investors
Lionrocket	Gen AI	6 billion	Series A Bridge	Stonebridge Ventures, Gu Equity
BIND	Mens Fashion	-	Grant	TIPS
FarmyirehSe	Digital farming	-	Seed	Seoul Techno Holdings
Spaceport	Coldchain	500 million	Pre-Series A	KIBO
Dilla	Food	-	Seed	CNTtech
C2Y	Interior B2B	-	Seed	Shinhan-Quantum Seed Fund
Clobot	Robot software	11 billion	Pre IPO	Shinhan Venture Investment, Mirae Asset Securities, Intervest, Hyundai Motor Group Zero One
QMIT	Sports tech	3.15 billion	Seed	Stone Bridge Ventures, HGI, Schmidt, Big Basin, Geon Investment, Bokwang Investments, Sang Sang eBiz
Banlife	Pet travel platform	-	Pre-Series A	Strong Ventures, Kimbongjin
Wilog	Logistics	-	Grant	Scaleup TIPS
Astar	Gen AI	-	Seed	Sparklab
Dalroll	Food	2 billion	Series A2	ROI Investment Partners, Daesung Venture Capital
Togglecampus	Collaboration tool	-	Seed	Smilegate Investments, Blue Point Partners,
Solive Ventures	Kids edu	-	Seed	Seoul Techno Holdings
Gravity Labs		-	Seed	Seoul Techno Holdings, Delight Investment
Feat	Document sharing	-	Smilegate Investment, Mark&Company
Removing company	Senior Healthcare	-	Seed	MYSC
Noise-X	ESG	-	Grant	TIPS
Gengenai	AI	4.5 billion	Pre-Series A	Smilegate Investments, DSC Investments, Stone Bridge Ventures, HL Mando, Innowireless, Korea Development Bank
Amber road	Smart	900 million	Seed	SparkLab, DCamp, Y&Archer, Dg Tech Holdings
Dreamo	Game	-	Grant	Tips
Creatornomic	Digital Business Card	-	Grant	TIPS
Absology	Bio	10 billion	Series B Bridge	Korea Development Bank, Forest Ventures, Forest Partners, Krossroad Partners, Intekplus
Humanscape	Healthcare	20 billion	Series C	Korea Development Bank, Hana Securities, Hana Ventures
Chainlogis	Delivery	-		Olive young
Loka101	Proptech	1.5 billion	Seed	KIBO
KStyle Hub	Beauty brand	-	Seed	JeJu CCEI
BIYOU	Food Recycling	-	Seed	JeJu CCEI
OPEACE	Coworking Space	-	Seed	JeJu CCEI
JEJU BASALT	Jeju base product	-	Seed	JeJu CCEI
Qualson	Edutech	-	M&A	Ruiid
10x10	Ecommerce	-	M&A	Backpackr
VanaM	Semiconductor Materials	-	Grant	Deeptech TIPS
Howhy Company	Edutech	-	Seed	Grand Ventures
MOVIC Lab	AI Solution	1.5 billion	Pre-Series A	Mobydick Ventures, Evergreen Investment Partners, Kodit

#Major Funding

• Digital healthcare company Humanescape has completed a $40 million Series C funding round with an additional $200 million investment. The company operates a rare disease integrated solution called Rarenote and a pregnancy/parenting platform. The company plans to use the funding to accelerate the development of its services and its global expansion.
• Robot software company Clobot has raised $11 million in pre-IPO funding. The company has autonomous driving technology and other technologies needed for robot services. The company plans to go public on the KOSDAQ stock exchange in 2024.
• Webtoon generation AI service Lionrocket has raised $6 million in funding. The company operates an image generation AI called Zenvers that can instantly create characters from just 10 training images. The company is currently collaborating with over 15 content companies in Korea and Japan.

#Trend Analysis

Series A Funding Remains in the Chills

While 2022 delivered a harsh blow to growth-stage startups, its icy tendrils have extended to the entire entrepreneurial landscape in 2023. Even Series A startups, poised on the cusp of model validation and market traction, are finding themselves caught in the frosty grip of funding woes.

The numbers paint a stark picture. Gone are the days of quarterly Series A deals surpassing 60-70; no quarter this year has cracked the 50 mark. The market downturn has not only chilled investor enthusiasm, but also shrunk company valuations, reflected in the declining average and median investment amounts. Compared to last year’s buoyant KRW 8 billion (average) and KRW 6 billion (median) Series A figures, 2023 coughs up a meagre KRW 6 billion (average) and KRW5 billion (median). And with a 30% drop in deal volume and a tighter standard deviation hinting at prevalence of smaller investments, the funding landscape has gone decidedly micro.

The disparity is even starker when examining individual deals. 2022 boasted a KRW 100 billion kingpin, dwarfed by this year’s champion at KRW 71.2 billion. Even quarterly highs have shrunk from last year’s KRW 40-100 billion bonanzas to this year’s KRW 10-70 billion plateau. It’s a “rich get richer, cold gets colder” scenario playing out among startups battling for survival.

But 2023 hasn’t offered much respite even compared to its own bleak beginnings. While a few lucky startups in Q3 snagged big bucks, temporarily inflating the average, Q4 witnessed a brutal plunge of over 4 billion won. The median value remains stubbornly frozen, and the number of deals hovers around a chilly 30. The message is clear: while a handful may bask in the sun of big bucks, the overall funding climate has retreated to the shadows of small investments.