StartupRecipe Investment Report 2022

According to the Startup Recipe’s own research, the amount of investment attracted by Korean startups in 2022 was KRW 10,827.1 billion. There were 1,480 investment cases in total. The figure is down 9.9% from 2021 when KRW 12,286 billion flowed in due to the second
venture boom. On the other hand, the number of investments increased by more than 200.
2022 is the year when a new dark age of startup investment began due to unstable domestic and overseas economic conditions such as interest rate hikes. In 2020, the market overcame the COVID-19 pandemic; in 2021, monthly investment reached KRW 1 trillion, bagging the largest funds ever. But in 2022, the investment climate has changed significantly. Since it was after a record-high investment boom, the drop felt even harder. The time has come to survive without investment.

The investment market froze up, but not all sectors have experienced a drop in investment. In many fields, the amount of funding has increased compared to 2021. However, the consumer tech and bio/health care sector suffered a significant drop in investment, contributing to the overall decline. Only in these two fields, did investment attraction decline more than KRW 2 trillion compared to 2021. In particular, the bio/healthcare sector showed a decrease of more than 50% compared to 2021, showing the largest decline in investment. Funding in the edtech field also fell by
22% compared to the previous year. The drop resulted from the lack of large-scale financing, as Riiid raised KRW 200 billion in 2021.

According to data collected through Unicorn Board, a unicorn tracker platform provided by Startup Recipe, there are a total of 11 domestic startups that have formalized unicorns in 2022. The total number of unicorns was found to be 25 based on the domestic headquarters. Despite the deteriorating investment environment, the news of startups recognized for their growth potential continuing to become unicorns continued into the second half of the year. As unicorns came out at a similar level to 2021, when the investment market was good, investor interest in promising startups remained.