[StartupRecipe] Korea has 18 unicorns, 7 were born in 2021

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[Feb.28 ~ Mar.4]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW 340.6 billion.

Company	Inudustry	Amount	Round	Investors
Ridi	EBOOK Platform	120 billion		Korea Develpoment Bank,Atinum Investment, NVESTOR
Haegin	Game	100 billion	Series B	BonAngels Venture Partners, Storm Ventures, Kakao Ventures, Neptune, Net marble, Lotte Ventures, Netease, Alois Ventures, Korea Develpoment Bank
OGQ	Media/Content	35 billion		Tscientific
AnimalGo	Pettech	-	Seed	Future Play
Waynehills bryant ai	AI	26 billion		Shorooq Partners, Vision Creator
Goodystudio	Webtoon	-	Seed	CCEI Gyeonggi
Prevenotics	Medical AI	-	Seed	Kakao Ventures
Rootrix		-	Seed	Futureplay, Sopoong Ventures
Toeasy	Mental healthcare	1.1 billion	Pre-Series A	WISHCOMPANY, Strong Ventures
Rocketview	AI bigdata	-	M&A	Olive young
Drdiary	Bio/Healthcare	14.7 billion	Series B	Devsisters Ventures, Shinhan Investment , Insight Equity Partners, Korea Investment Partners, Smilegate Investment, We Ventures
Quarterback	Roboadvisor	10 billion		Shinhan group
Valuelinku	Logistics	7 billion	Series A bridge
Hanteoglobal	K-Culture	-	Series A	Sillicon2
Annotationai	AI	-	Pre-Series A	NPX Capital
Moin	Fintech	17.2 billion	Series B	Capstone Partners, Strong Ventures, BA Partners, Honest Ventures, Comes Investment, Inzisoft, RYUKYUNG PSGQuad Ventures, Settle bank, Coolidge Corner Investment, Shinhan Capital
Monitorapp	Security	11 billion	Pre-IPO	Korea Develpoment Bank,KDB Capital, AhnLab
Moca&JS	eSignature solution	-	Seed	The Ventures
Usimsa	Roaming data platform	-	Seed	Bluepointpartners
Mooving	Mobiltiy	6 billion	Pre-Series A	Tigris Investment, Infinitum Partners, Nau IB Capital, Rhinos, DNA Motors, Korea growth investment
Howbuild	Construction solution	4.5 billion		Softbank Ventures, Murex Partners, Hana Ventures, Kiwoom Investment
Goqual	HomeIoT	2 billion		Woomi Global
Trashbusters	Social Venture	-	Pre-Series A	Strong Ventures, Bass Investment, HYK
Choroc	ecommerce	-	M&A	Jeongyookgak.
Coatus	mobility	-	Pre-Series A	MYSC, UTC Investment, Shinhan asset management

Major Funding

• Ridi, the operator of e-book service Ridibooks, has raised 120 billion won and earned unicorn status. It has rapidly grown by expanding the service area into webtoons. It plans to enter the video business in cooperation with CJ E&M. The company will promote content businesses such as webtoons, web novels, and videos targeting overseas.
• Game company Haegin has attracted 100 billion won investment and become a unicorn. Its portfolio includes casual games such as Homerun Clash and Overdox; global sales accounted for 90% of the revenue. The company will focus on upgrading its flagship lineup services and developing new games.
• Overseas remittance service Moin has secured an investment of 17.2 billion won. With its own algorithm, it offers 90 percent lower remittance rates and four times faster speed than existing banks. It will use the funds to service enhancement and global expansion.

#Trend Analysis

Korea has 18 unicorns, 7 were born in 2021

As of the end of 2021, there were 18 unicorn companies in Korea, the highest on record. According to the government, seven new unicorn companies were born last year, the most in a single year. 

Seven companies listed as the unicorn in 2021 are Dunamu (crypto-asset exchange), Zigbang (real estate brokerage), Kurly (Market Kurly), Bithumb Korea (crypto-asset exchange), Bucketplace (home interior platform), and Karrot Market (secondhand marketplace), and Ridi (content platform). Two companies, Coupang and Krafton, were successfully listed and excluded, while seven new ones were added, bringing the total number to 18. This is a six-fold increase compared to three in 2017. The number of unicorn companies is deemed as an indicator of the startup and venture ecosystem’s scale-up, demonstrating that the Korean startup ecosystem has grown rapidly.

The number of unicorns has increased sharply since 2020. The rise of blockchain startups is noteworthy, including Dunamu and Bithumb Korea. Dunamu, founded in 2012, operates cryptocurrency exchange Upbit and social stock trading platform “Stockplus” and unlisted stock trading platform “Stockplus Unlisted.” Bithumb is the first generation of cryptocurrency exchanges in Korea. It started a cryptocurrency trading service under the name of Xcoin in 2014 and changed its name to Bithumb in 2015. 

Bithumb Korea, Ridi, and Bucketplace are three companies that have recently achieved unicorn status. Ridi, the operator of e-book service Ridibooks, became the first unicorn in the e-book industry. Established in 2008, it launched the largest e-book service in Korea and e-book reader Ridipaper. In 2020, it expanded to the webtoon sector, resulting in a huge increase in revenues. It has recently raised 120 billion won and plans to work on various content businesses such as webtoons, web novels, videos, and music.

Bucketplace runs the home decor e-commerce Ohouse. It offers a variety of services, including interior content, commerce, construction, installation, and repair services, recently adding house-moving services. It has grown significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to evolve, with its corporate value increasing 2.5 times in a year. In addition, game startup Haegin has secured a Series B investment and debuted as a unicorn.

Meanwhile, the government intends to push for policies to support baby unicorns and preliminary unicorns in order to create an ecosystem that can produce future unicorns. It will support the creation of funds worth more than 2 trillion won, investing 1 trillion won in a fund of funds.

Company	Sector
Yello Mobile	Mobile
L&P Cosmetic	Cosmetics
Krafton	Game
Viva Republica	FinTech
Yanolja	O2O
Wemakeprice	E-commerce
GP Club	Cosmetics
Musinsa	E-commerce
Aprogen	Bio
Socar	Car sharing
Kurly	Grocery delivery
(anonymous)	Wholesale & Retail
TMON	Social Commerce
Dunamu	FinTech
Zigbang	Real estate
Karrot Market	E-commerce
Bucketplace	E-commerce
Bithumb Korea	FinTech
Ridi	Content platform