[StartupRecipe] The secret to startups succeeding from the get-go

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[Aug. 30~ Sep. 03]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW 303.1 billion.

Company	Inudustry	Amount	Round	Investors
Zeropointtrail	Travel	-	Seed	Jeju CCEI
EyeD Lab	Pettech	-	Seed	Jeju CCEI
Habitfactory	Fintech	7.5 billion	Series B	KB Investment, Translink Investment, KB Life
Urbanbase	Prophtech	13 billion		Hanwha Hotel&Resort
Snackfor	Snack subscription	3.6 billion	Series A bridge	GS Retail, SBI Investment, Shinhan Capital, Future Play
H.B Smith	QA Test	2.2 billion	Series A	Intops Investment, Hana Ventures, Fin del Mundo partners,
Medi Whale	Bio/Healthcare	3 billion	Series A	SBI Investment, BNK Venture Investment
Glassdome	Manufacture	2.3 billion	Seed	Crit Ventures, Lotte Ventures, Primer sazze partners,
Tagogayo	Van Rent	-	Pre-Series A	New Paradigm Investment
Deepixel	Fashion	2 billion	Series A	EBEST Investment & Securities
NPIXEL	Game	100 billion	Series B	Seahan Venture Capital
Chexcar	Mobility	2.5 billion	Pre-Series A	Lotte Ventures, KB Securities
Bigpicture interactive	eSports	16 billion	Series B	Hana Ventures, Smilegate Investment, Daesung Venture Capital
Frienkly	Metaverse	-		Wemade Tree
Charlie	Pettech	-	Pre-Series A	New Paradigm Investment
Mediquitous	Commerce	5 billion		Korea Develpoment Bank
Gateinnovation	Education	8 billion		A*Solutions Pte
Robocon	Robotics	100 billion	Series A	Deepdive Investment
Upstage	AI	31.6 billion	Series A	Company K Partners, Softbank Ventures, TBT, Primier Partners, Stonebridge Ventures
Eva	Electronic car	5.5 billion	Series A	Hyndai Motors, DSC Investment, Schmidt, GS Global, Sk Rentcar, Shinhan Capital, Samsung Ventures Investment, Gentium Partners
Liveconnect	live streming	3 billion		NC Soft
Seedn	Energy	500 million		Kakao Ventures
Fittogether	Sports	10.7 billion		Hashed, Stic Ventures, IPS Ventures, Widwin InvestmentMagellan Technology Investment,
DeepbrainAi	AI	50 billion	Series B	Posco holdings, L&S Ventures Investment, KDB Capital, Korea Development Bank, IMM Investment, NVester, Noh&Partners,
Class101	Online class	30 billion	Series B	Goodwater Capital, Strong Ventures, KT Investment, Mirae asset Capital, Klim Ventures
Kickthehurdle	Bio/Healthcare	2.5 billion	Pre-Series B	BNK Venture Investment, KOSME
Atny	Luxury Fashion	5 billion	Series A	SBI Investment, CJ ENM, ES Investor, Laguna Invest
Papamaket	Food ecommerce	2.2 billion	Seed	Gyeongnam Venture Investment

Major Funding

• NPixel, the game company that developed Gran Saga, attracted 100 billion won in investment and became a unicorn company in the shortest time in the game industry. With this investment, the company aims to strengthen its global market penetration and plans to launch Gran Saga in the Japanese market within this year. The next game Chrono Odyssey is also under development.
• Upstage, a company specializing in artificial intelligence (AI), raised 31.6 billion won investment. Established by Naver Clova’s AI leader, plans to accelerate the development of AI Pack, an AI integrated solution that develops the company’s core business with investments.
• Online class platform Class 101 plans to expand its global presence with an investment of 30 billion won. Since its launch in March 2018, it has operated more than 2,000 classes. So far, the company has reached 100,000 creators, 3 million members, and over 50 billion won has been paid to creators.
• Big Picture Interactive, a comprehensive e-sport company, is attracting 16 billion won in investment. It operates a platform named LVUP.GG for game users and anyone within the platform can hold or participate in e-sport competitions. Krafton, Riot Games, Blizzard, and Nexon are hosting the competition.

#Trend Analysis

The secret to startups succeeding from the get-go

Danggeun Market raised 173.9 billion won last month, and its corporate value reached 3 trillion won. The valuation jumped 70 times in three years, and with this investment, the company joined the unicorn club six years after its establishment. Game company NPixel was also in the limelight last week for becoming a unicorn in the shortest time in the game industry. With the emergence of startups having such explosive growth in a short period of time, vcs are moving fast to catch startups with the potential to succeed in the early stages. Perhaps this is why more and more startups are highly valued by venture capitals within a few years after establishment or even before the service is released.

AI startup Voyager X raised 30 billion won worth of investment, which is hardly seen in the Series A funding round. Voyager X was founded by CEO Nam Se-dong, who developed successful services such as 1noon acquired by Naver, Say Club of Neowiz, and Naver’s Camera App B612. The company serves a video editing service named Brew and AI mobile scanner app V flat. Development capability and fast drive are its strongest assets.

AI startup Upstage also secured 31.6 billion won in the Series A phase. Upstage was founded last October by Kim Seong-hoon, a former AI leader of Naver Clova. Providing AI solutions to companies, it attracted corporate clients 8 months after its establishment and achieved sales of 8.8 billion won. The company also established a branch in Hong Kong and is working on its overseas expansion.

RXC came into the spotlight by raising 20 billion won worth of investment in a seed round right at the same time as its establishment. RXC is a next-generation commerce platform established by the former board chairman of TMON, Yoo Han-ik. It plans to launch a curation commerce shopping app with a focus on live commerce and content marketing and to provide a D2C media commerce platform for various brands, celebrities, and influencers. It will launch its first service at the end of this year.

Rebellions, an AI semiconductor company, raised 14.5 billion won during the pre-series A phase. It is the most notable startup in AI semiconductor design, which is a key technology in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution. The company consists of engineers who have experienced global semiconductor companies such as IBM, ARM, and Intel. It is planning to release the products next year.

If you look at the startups above, you can easily find similarities. First, it has a business model targeting the global market and global-level technology. It also has a history of success as a serial entrepreneur or a veteran of the industry has joined as a team member. Another similar point is the fact that it has raised investment from global venture capital and is an AI technology-based company.

Overall, we can see that startups with entrepreneurial capabilities, market growth potential, global potential, excellent technology, and talent are growing amid interest from investors from the beginning.