[StartupRecipe] AI Takes the Lead in Female-Founded Startups

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[Aug. 12~ Aug. 16]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of the week is KRW 967 Billion.

Company	Inudustry	Amount	Round	Investors
CrossPoint Therapeutics	Biotech	-	Grant	Deeptech TIPS
Draftype	AI Fashion studio	-	Pre-Series A	Blue Point Partners, Sparklab
Pawdly	Pet salon CRM	-	Seed	The Invention Lab
sgsg	Home appliances care	-	M&A	GOQUAL
Alpaca Networks	Security	-	Grant	TIPS
Reverse mountain	HR	-	Grant	TIPS
TOXION	Bio	-	Grant	TIPS
Punchylab	Edutech	-	Grant	TIPS
Alon	electronic car charging	-	Grant	TIPS
Fast forward	Fintech	-		Nudge helathcare
Creatrip	Inbound travel	3 billion		Myrealtrip
Petaverse	Content IP	10 billion
Ezcoglab	Digital therapeutics	-	Grant	Pre TIPS
Lookinsight	Healthcare	-	Grant	TIPS
Withyt	Homecare	-	Grant	TIPS
Ycomma	Fashion outlet	-	Seed	Bonn Angels Venture Partners
Orbicle bio	Climate tech	-	Pre-Seed	500Global
Second Eureka	Franchise builder	-	Pre-Series A	The Ventures
ICU Corporation	Digital therapeutics	-	Grant	TIPS
CTI	Engineering Service	-		Seah CVC
OILLEX	Mobility	-	Grant	TIPS
Linsol	Safety solution	-	Grant	TIPS
Maze	Personal tracking	-	Grant	TIPS
Junction med	Senior care	-	Grant	TIPS
Hidden news	Jewelry	-	Seed	Korea Omega Investment Finance, Big Bang Angels, Woori Financial Capital, Shinhan Venture Investment
ALLBIGDAT	AI Solution	-	Pre-Series A	New Born Ventures
Qclick	Dental solution	-	Pre-Series A	CNTtech

#Major Funding

• Petaverse, a company that manages intellectual property (IP) for pet characters, has secured a 10 billion KRW investment. They have signed contracts with major Korean entertainment companies such as SM Entertainment and Starship Entertainment, and hold characters inspired by the pets of superstar celebrities.
• Inbound travel platform Creatrip has raised 3 billion KRW in investment from MyRealTrip. MyRealTrip plans to utilize Creatrip’s content and infrastructure to offer convenient services to foreign tourists as part of their goal to become a global platform.

#Trend Analysis

AI Takes the Lead in Female-Founded Startups

Despite a significant decline in major investment announcements for women-led startups this year, a shift in preferred investment areas is emerging. Among these, the AI sector is gaining traction, even in startups founded by women. This trend is underscored by the fact that 35% of women-led companies that successfully secured funding by July 2024 are AI-focused.

Examining the investment trends for women-led startups in 2023 and 2024, it’s clear that the business models of female entrepreneurs are evolving. While consumer tech and healthcare remain strong sectors for women entrepreneurs, the proportion of investments in software has increased compared to last year. Notably, AI startups have attracted significantly more funding, with leading companies such as Algocare, TaylorTown, ARobot, and Hudson AI offering AI-based solutions. Meanwhile, fashion/beauty, childcare/parenting, and education continue to be key investment sectors, and interest in sustainability-related ventures is also on the rise.

In the first half of 2024 (up to July), investment in women-led startups totaled 89 billion won, marking a 63% drop from 240.8 billion won in the same period last year. However, this decline is largely due to a few large-scale investments in companies like Market Kurly and Musicow in 2023. Excluding these outliers, the overall investment volume for 2024 is actually higher. Moreover, there has been an increase in deals surpassing 2 billion won this year, signaling that women-led startups are attracting larger investments on average. Additionally, while early-stage investments still represent over 60% of the total, more companies have progressed to the Series A funding stage.

Another notable trend is the growing number of globally-focused startups. There is a surge in companies targeting international markets with generative AI solutions, alternative proteins, functional foods, and robotics. This global outlook is further supported by increased early-stage investments from global investors such as 500 Global, Antler Korea, Goodwater Capital, Draper Associates, and Crew Capital, who are increasingly backing women-led ventures.