[StartupRecipe] Four big K-food companies Investing in Food Tech Startups

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[July.15~ July. 19]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of the week is KRW 224.25 Billion.

Company	Inudustry	Amount	Round	Investors
Seavantage	Marine startup	3 billion	HD Hyundai Marine Solutions
Flowwokrs	Designer outsourcing	-	Grant	TIPS
TECURE	Bio	-	Grant	TIPS
Tav Silicon	Audio amp IC	-	Seed	Hanyang university holdings
Mobyus	Logistics Solution	34 billion		Korea Investment Partners
Gwanak analog	Fabless	22 billion	Series B	Korea Development Bank, Samho Green Investment, JB Investment
Realsecu	Security	-	Series A	EAST GATE PARTNERS
ALLBIGDAT	AI	-	Pre-Series A	New Paradigm Investment
Impactive AI	AI Soultion	-	Grant	Deeptech TIPS
Pikicast	Content curation	-	M&A	EST AID
VONVON	Interactive content	-	M&A	EST AID
AIRS Medical	Healthcare	27 billion	Series C	BSK Investment, Shinyoung Securities, Premier Partners, Hana Ventures, Samho Green Investment, Dunamu & Partners, GS Ventures, Klim ventures
WERT INTELLIGENCE	Patent search engine	3 billion		Albatross Investment
ELLECT	Contech	-	Pre-Series A	Magna Investments, The Invention Lab
Maetel	SNS Marketing	350 million	Seed	Sopoong Ventures, The Ventures, Mark & Company
Team elysium	Digital healthcare	-	Grant	Post Tips
Groupby HR	HR	-	Pre-Series A	Primer Sazze, Hallym University Technology Holdings, Angel Lounge
egkorea		-	Grant	TIPS
Lattice	Contract lifecycle management	-	Grant	TIPS
ADRO	Aerodynamic Body kit	5.4 billion	Series A	Stone Bridge Ventures, K2 Investment Partners, SBVA, Korea Investment & Securities, Bon Angel Spatners, Bridge Investments, Strong Investments
CUePEAKBio	Bio	-	Grant	TIPS
ilhwa logis	Logistics	-	M&A	wefun
Vinssen	Marine mobility	-		GS Ventures
hongwoo	Food	6.8 billion	M&A	Haesungprovision
Bioconnect	Digital healthcare	-	Grant	TIPS
276 holdings	Fintech	-	Grant	TIPS
Wegofair	Fake product monitoring	-	Grant	TIPS
Continental new materials	Materials	-		Seah capital
Tobeunicorn	Edutech	-	Grant	TIPS
Indexfinger	APP development	-	Grant	TIPS
Bright energy Partners	Energy	100 billion		blackrock
BioSpero	Bio	1.2 billion		KODIT
AimBe lab	Agritech	-	Grant	TIPS
Yulimtech	automobile parts processing plant	15.5 billion	Pre IPO	Korea Development Bank, K&Investment Partners, Vine Ventures, Pentastone Investments
Phyxup	Healthcare	-	Seed	Digital healthcare partners
weplanet	Software development	-	m	teamsparta
Solti	Business solution	-	Grant	TIPS
Innodtech	Healthcare	-	Grant	Scaleup TIPS
Scalar data	electronic car charging	3 billion	Series A	Woori bank, KODIT
Kvisa	Visa Platform	-	Pre-Series A	MYSC
Outstanders	Social network	-	Grant	TIPS
Freshour	Pet food	-	Grant	TIPS
Hodoolabs	Edutech	1 billion
MOHO	Ceramic brand	-	Grant	TIPS

#Major Funding

• Bright Energy Partners, a renewable energy generation company, has secured an investment of 100 billion KRW. The company sells electricity produced from over 300 solar power plants nationwide, as well as Renewable Energy Certificates (REC), to major domestic companies that wish to purchase renewable energy.
• Mobyus, an autonomous driving robot company, has raised 34 billion KRW. The company provides platforms and automation solutions necessary for building logistics infrastructure, including autonomous logistics robots.
• Gwanak Analog, a fabless semiconductor company, has attracted an investment of 22 billion KRW and is valued at 100 billion KRW. The company develops products that integrate power semiconductors and system semiconductors.
• AIRS Medical, a medical AI startup, has secured an investment of 20 million US. The company enhances MRI image quality and supports accurate diagnosis with faster scans.

#Trend Analysis

Interest in food tech is growing in the Korean startup scene. Companies developing innovative solutions such as creating sustainable foods to address climate change or replacing human labor with robots are gaining attention. Food companies are also pursuing strategies to secure technology and ideas in the rapidly changing food industry through open innovation with early-stage food tech startups. These companies’ major investment areas are diverse, including cultured meat, functional health foods, smart farms, and food robots. Here’s a summary of four conglomerates focused on investing in food tech.

Lotte Group(Lotte ventures) has been supporting food tech innovation through its Future Diet Open Innovation program since 2021. Lotte’s food and distribution affiliates discover and invest in early-stage startups, having selected up to Batch 4 this year.

CJ Group is also fostering food tech companies through accelerating programs such as Oventus and CIAT. CJ CheilJedang, in particular, has established a food tech organization and operates an in-house venture program and CVC organization that invests in startups, discovering K-food tech companies for overseas expansion.

Nongshim is investing in food tech companies through programs such as Nongshim Tech Up+ and N Startup, and last year invested 10 billion won in investment funds operated by venture capitals. The strategy is to discover new businesses through in-house ventures while finding new future food sources through startups.

Hite Jinro is expanding its investments beyond alcoholic beverages to the food sector. Although it does not operate a standalone program, it participates in various public-private nurturing programs, investing in startups or making direct investments to expand its portfolio.

Additionally, Nonghyup operates the NH Harvest X program supporting agtech and food tech startups, while Ourhome is creating a fund for the future food industry. Pulmuone is also discovering related startups through its open innovation program.

While interest in food tech is increasing, there is still a lack of large-scale investments or mergers and acquisitions (M&A) cases. Since GS Retail’s acquisition of Cookat a few years ago, such large-scale acquisitions have been rare, and there have been underperforming cases like Plating, a corporate cafeteria platform, which was sold at a low price this year despite receiving investment from large corporations. However, the market size is expected to grow further due to increasing consumer demand for eco-friendly, sustainable foods and improved efficiency in food production, distribution, and consumption through technology.

The Korean government has announced plans to create an agri-food fund of over 200 billion won this year, expand policy funds for nurturing youth and early-stage companies, establish dedicated funds for each growth stage, and promote private investment expansion. Moreover, with the global expansion of K-food, expectations for domestic food tech startups are rising, and interest in food tech is expected to grow further.