[StartupRecipe] Alternative Investments are on the rise among millennials

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[June. 21~ June. 25 ]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW  687.4 billion.

Company	Industry	Amount	Round	Investors
Fitpet	Pettech	7 billion	Series B	Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Mirae Asset Capital
Soltech	Eco plastic	4 billion	Series A	KTB Network, Samsung C&T Corporation
Gomicorp	Ecommerce	7.5 billion	Series A	Industrial bank of Korea, Ubiquoss Investment, KB Investment, F&F Partners, Platform partners
Nemesis	Bio/Healthcare	2.5 billion		Capstone Partners, Kground Ventures, UTC Investment
adx	ad tech	-	M&A	Kakao Games
Atreez	Mobile platform	-	M&A	TMON
Wrtn technology	digital tools	-	Seed	Mashup Angels
Reconlabs	AR	500 million	Seed	Kakao ventures, Shinhan Capital, Naver D2SF
Reebonz	Luxury Fashion	10.5 billion	Series A	DSC Investment, Bass Investment, Premier Partners, AJU IB, Lighthouse Combined Investment, Pathfinder H, Industrial bank of Korea
iocrops	Smart farm	1.8 billion	Series A	ISU Venture Capital, Enlight ventures, Seoul Techno Holdings
ALI	AI	2 billion	Series A	NC Soft
Bluedot	Video	-		Naver D2SF, GU Equity, Smilegate Investment, KB Investment, Bluepoint partners, Poshtech holdings, Square Ventures
Viva Republica	Financial Service	460 billion	seriesG	Korea Develpoment Bank, Altos Ventures, greyhound capital, Alkeon Capital Management
Voyagerx	AI	30 billion	Series A	Softbank Ventures, Altos Ventures, Yellow dog
Gollala	Ecommerce	1.5 billion	Pre-Series A	Hana Financial Investment, Info Bank, cjinvest, Zepyruslab
Wizschool	SW Platform	3 billion	Series A	DAEKYO INVESTMENT, F&F Partners, Spring Camp, Capstone Partners
Aiv	Deep learning	5 billion	Series A	KDB Capital, L&S Venture Capital, Quantum Ventures Korea, K2 Investment Partners, We Ventures
Aimble	Bio/Healthcare	400 million	Seed	schmidt
Megazone Cloud	Cloud	50 billion	Series B	Salesforce Venture
Pplink	Software	1.2 billion		Woori bank, Strong Ventures, Klim Ventuers
Pharosibio	Bio/Healthcare	18 billion	Series C
Emoticbox	emoticon	-	Pre-Series A	EAST GATE PARTNERS
sixshop		8 billion		Viva Republic
Deliverylab	Food delivery	-		Mirae Holdings
Vinssen	Eco friendly boat	14.5 billion	Series B	SCHMIDT, DSC Investment, EN Venture partners, SJ Investment partners
Mezoo	Bio/Healthcare	9 billion	Series A	The wells Investment, Shinhan venture, SJ Investment Partners, AJU IB, Intervest, JX Partners, Albatross Investment, Mint Venture Partners

Major Funding

• Viva Republica, the operator of Toss, finalized their series G investment worth KRW 460 billion. They will push ahead with their super app strategy with an integrated mobile financial platform that provides banking, securities, and personal financial services from one app. The company will use the investment for the growth of the Toss platform and the growth of affiliates.
• Voyager X has raised KRW 30 billion in investment. They operated AI-based video editor VREW and mobile scanner vFlat. The company’s strength is that it has the best development team in the AI field. Its goal is to hire AI talent with the investment and grow into a globally competitive AI startup.
• Vinssen, an eco-friendly ship manufacturer, has raised an investment of KRW 14.5 billion. The company plans to lead the market with eco-friendly engines, which is their core technology. They will accelerate the commercialization of eco-friendly ships through partnerships with the government and private companies.
• Reebonz Korea, a luxury goods platform, has raised KRW 10.5 billion won in investment. It provides buying and rental services of luxury goods, short-term and regular subscription services, and resell services. With this investment round, the company will recruit more talent, secure additional luxury goods, and spend more on promotion.

#Trend Analysis

Millennials’ and Gen Z’s investments are becoming increasingly diverse. Investment options are increasing as alternative asset investment platforms emerge to invest in stocks and other assets. Those who enjoy investment as they would enjoy playing games try out new investment services without hesitation.

This trend first came about overseas. A few years ago, P2P platforms and RoboAdvisor investment platforms, which enable individuals to invest in small amounts due to their solid mobile accessibility, have recently emerged as investments in mobile resell platforms and various assets. Alternative asset investments are already becoming common in other countries through GOAT, a global sneakers trading platform; Yieldstreet, an investment platform for real-estate and shipping; ALT, a platform to buy and sell sports cards; and Rally, a platform for splitting investment into expensive collections.

In Korea, such investment alternative platforms are emerging one by one, focusing on startups. All of them have the characteristic of increasing assets with small split investments on a mobile basis that emphasizes simplicity. Among various sneakers resell platforms, KREAM, which Naver spun off, and Soldout, which Musinsa runs, are rising. KASA, a real estate investment platform, is a platform that allows small purchases of parts building like stocks and completed its first public offering in Gangnam last year, with a large number of people in their 20s and 30s flocking to the public offering.

Music Cow is a platform for partially purchasing music copyrights of composers, with 70% of its members being millennials. Brave Girls, who became popular due to their “reverse driving,” made headlines with more than 1,000% of Rollin’s music revenue. In addition, TESSA, an artwork investment platform using NFT, and Buysellstandard, an expensive asset sculpture sales platform, are also investment platforms that have recently appeared. The characteristic of these services is that they can purchase assets in small amounts like sculptures on a mobile basis that emphasizes simplicity. Large companies and banks that quickly read MZ generation investment trends also use them for new services and marketing. Shinhan Bank tried to sell art pieces in installments, while E-Mart 24 offered its stake in artworks as a prize.

Millennials are more anxious than any other generation because getting a job alone will not make them financially successful. The generation is even called ‘capitalist kids,’ meaning they are willing to do anything to earn money, such as having two or more jobs, which is very common. They will continue to take an interest in new alternative investment platforms as their assets increase.