[StartupRecipe] Team Tops Investor Priorities

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[Jan. 20~ Jan. 24]

Company	Inudustry	Amount	Round	Investors
Predictive ai	Bio	-	Grant	Deeptech TIPS
Mvnt	Dance IP	-	Grant	TIPS
Byond r	XR	-	Grant	TIPS
Sujib	Fandom platform	-	Grant	TIPS
Doeat	Delivery app	30.6 billion		Goodwater Capital, SBVA, Bass Ventures, Hashed, BDC Labs
Enhans	AI agent	17 billion	Series B	Hyundai Technology Investment, L&S Venture Capital, KDB Capital, Timepolio, AOA Capital Partners, Korea Development Bank, KT Investment
Kworkpartners	Foreigners' app	800 million	Seed	Kaist Ventures
Olla fintech	Fintech	12 billion		KB Kookmin Card, Altara Ventures, Do Ventures
Needs	Food	-	Seed	MYSC
Bear robotics	Robotics	-	M&A	LG
Oneuniverse	Metaverse	10 billion		Actionsquare
Mediark	Bio	-		JNP Global
MediQstar	Healthcare	-	Series A	Pathfinderh
Vivident	Character IP	2 billion	Seed	Hashed, Mashup Ventures, The Ventures, Modhouse, Z Venture Capital, Desima Fund, Titan Fund
Prediction	Battery	-	Seed	Blue Point Partners
Airbility	Air Mobility	2.5 billion	Pre Series A	Samho Green Investments, Bass Ventures, Stone Bridge Ventures, Mashup Ventures
Route finders	able tech	-	Seed	MYSC, The Wells Investment
Vivalabs	Healthcare	-	Seed	Angel Investor
Onclev	Blockchain	-	Seed	MYSC
Joomidang	Content	-	Seed	Idea Partners
Tect group	Beauty	-	Seed	Bass Ventures, Kakao Ventures
Mindful connect	Mental health	-	Seed	MYSC
Nanum vitamin	Charity	-	Pre Series A	Seoul Techno Holdings
Yellow bus	Bus sharing	-	M&A	The swing
Fnct biotech	Bio	6 billion	Series A	Meritz Securities, IBK Industrial Bank, Premier Partners, BSK Investment
Phantom	Game	-	M&A	Naptune
Cureverse	Bio	25 billion	Series B	Stick Ventures, Daekyo Investment, UTC Investment, Yuanta Investment, Gradient, Solidus Investment, Partners Investment, KB Securities, IBK Industrial Bank
Dexa studio	Game	-		Actionsquare
Amogy	Clean energy	81.6 billion		Aramco Ventures, SV Investment, Samsung Heavy Industries, BHP Ventures, Hanwha Investment & Securities, AFW Partners, Quantum Ventures Korea, Kibo Invest, Seoul IP, Temasek, MOL Switch, Yanmar Ventures, AP Ventures, Marunouchi Innovation Partners
Studio galilei	Mobility	-	Pre-Series A2	CNT Tech, NBH Capital, Cosnet Technology Investment, KODIT, KOSMES, IBK Capital, Intops Investment
Skin seoul	E-Commerce	-	Pre-Seed	500 Global, Blueprint Ventures

#Major Funding

• Amogy, an ammonia-based zero-carbon power generation system developer, has secured $56 Million in new funding, bringing its total investment to $270 million. The company plans to use the funding to accelerate the commercialization of key technologies in shipping and power generation, while strengthening its R&D capabilities.
• Do eat, a free delivery app, has raised 12 billion won ($9 million), bringing its total funding to 30.6 billion won. The service offers free delivery with a minimum order of 9,000 won, enabling single-portion deliveries. The company plans to use the investment to build community features and diversify its service categories in the single-person consumption sector.
• Enhans, an AI agent specialized company, has secured 17 billion won in investment. The company develops AI Agent Platform (AIAP) technology that processes and analyzes global product information in real-time using AI automation. The funding will be used for talent recruitment.

#Trend Analysis

Team Tops Investor Priorities

A recent survey by Startup Recipe, polling 29 investors from early to growth-stage investment firms, reveals key insights into what investors value most in startups during the current challenging investment climate.

The study found that team quality remains the top priority for investors across all investment stages. This was followed by market size, revenue model, technology, and global scalability in order of importance.

While mid-stage and growth-stage investors sometimes ranked market size and technology as their top priorities, an interesting trend emerged regarding revenue models. Despite expectations that investors would become more conservative and prioritize proven revenue models, growth-stage investors actually tended to rank revenue models as their lowest priority.

Market size emerged as another crucial factor, particularly for investors deploying larger amounts of capital who showed strong interest in market expandability. Notably, all corporate and big tech investment firms unanimously ranked global scalability as their top priority. This aligns with their recent strategic shift away from domestic Korean startups toward international investment opportunities, reflecting an adaptation to changing market conditions.

In assessing Korean startups’ global competitiveness, 35% of investors gave a score of 3 out of 5, while 28% gave a more favorable rating of 4 out of 5. Most investors identified AI and other megatrends as promising areas for global success, particularly in sectors where Korea holds competitive advantages.

Manufacturing-based industries, especially K-beauty cosmetics and related e-commerce value chains, were highlighted as areas with strong global potential. Investors also anticipated continued investment in areas of Korean strength, including consumer services, beauty, content, and specific deep tech sectors.