[StartupRecipe] What 3 Years of Data Reveal About Korea’s Early Startups

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What 3 Years of Data Reveal About Korea’s Early Startups

Fewer ultra-early-stage startups in Korea are getting funded each year — but the ones that do are raising far more, and the gap between those two trends keeps widening.

Data from Startup Recipe shows that in the first half of 2024, ultra-early-stage investment — spanning pre-seed through pre-Series A — totaled 275 deals worth a combined 222.8 billion won. Among deals with disclosed amounts, the average ticket size was 1.99 billion won and the median was 1 billion won. Only three companies raised 10 billion won or more that half: kitchen robotics startup AnyAI (15.7 billion won), AI SaaS company Dalpa (12 billion won), and AI content company Eyes Entertainment (10 billion won).

A year later, the picture had already shifted. Deal count fell to 198 in the first half of 2025, but the average disclosed ticket size jumped 49% to 2.97 billion won, and the median doubled from 1 billion to 2 billion won. Five companies cleared the 10-billion-won threshold, led by beauty startup Best Innovation at 23 billion won and robotics company RealWorld at 21 billion won — both surpassing the previous year’s largest deal.

This year, the trend went further still. Deal count dropped again, to just 64, but total ultra-early investment climbed to 315.51 billion won, up 58.7% from 2025 and 41.6% from 2024. The average disclosed ticket size reached 4.93 billion won — 66% higher than a year earlier, and 2.5 times what it was two years ago. Eight companies raised mega-deals of 10 billion won or more, including science superintelligence startup Asteromorph (42 billion won), robotics foundation model developer ConfigIntelligence (40 billion won), and physical AI company RealWorld (39 billion won). Deal sizes once reserved for Series B and beyond are now showing up at the seed stage.

The sector data points to the same story. Consumer tech and software led in deal count through 2024 and 2025, but by 2026, robotics topped the rankings by average ticket size at 12.93 billion won per deal. Across all three years, capital has consistently concentrated around deep tech and startups built on proprietary core technology.

Government first-quarter figures initially suggested otherwise. Companies aged seven years or under and those over seven both saw investment grow year-over-year, but companies three years old or younger saw a 10% decline. The government pointed to deep tech — dominated by companies over seven years old — driving overall venture investment, which squeezed the relative share going to younger companies. Since most companies under three years old fall within the pre-seed to pre-Series A range, the two metrics are largely tracking the same population, and the Q1 numbers alone pointed toward a pullback in ultra-early funding.

Second-quarter data complicated that read. The string of 40-billion-won-class deals at Asteromorph, ConfigIntelligence, and RealWorld all landed at the seed stage, echoing the same concentration already visible in growth-stage investment. By the end of the first half, both total ultra-early investment and average ticket size had hit three-year highs.

Read across three years, the apparent contraction looks less like a market-wide retreat and more like a delay — mega-deal money simply hadn’t reached the earliest stage yet. Asteromorph, ConfigIntelligence, and RealWorld, this half’s mega-deal recipients, share a common profile: repeat founders, deep domain expertise, and a global target market from the outset. As capital increasingly follows that profile, ultra-early startups without a repeat-founder track record, domain depth, or a global strategy are likely to find fundraising even harder from here.

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