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[StartupRecipe] Childcare startups are in the limelight after COVID-19.

#Weekly Funding Overview

[Dec. 6~ Dec.10]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW 65.9 billion.

CompanyInudustryAmountRoundInvestors
AutopediaMobility3 billionPre-Series ACKD Venture Capital, Kudos Ventures, Halla holdings
Bigwave RoboticsRobotics1.5 billionPre-Series AKakao Investment, KB Investment
AllonecareKidscare solution-SeedCNTTech
Label FoundationBlockchain-Solanium
FriendsmonEducation-ETRI Holdings
ClaimSwapBlockchain-Wemade
MedipressoHomecafe-SBA, BNK Busan Bank
Tactracer-GRANTTIPS
CMESRobotics4 billionGS Retail
WaklydoggyPettech-SeedKakao Ventures, Shinhan Capital
RedblueFitness SaaS3 billionSeries AGC Pharma,Shinhan Capital, Futureplay
EmployeelabsHR-SeedMashup Angels
MintpotVR-Shinsaegae INC
OxopoliticsPolitics Platform2 billionMYSC, OpenWater Investment, Nextran
sysolutionFood-Pre-Series ACNTTech
WinerouteWine smartorder-SeedBonAngels Venture Partners
UpriseFintech24 billionSeries CKTB Network, Capstone Partners, Seoul Investment Partners, Kakao Ventures
KinolightsOTT search platform-GRANTTIPS
WellxeconFintech-Naver D2SF
Crazy AlpacaProphtech-Naver D2SF
2DigitAI-BYON
DamhwaCompanyBeverage subscription3 billionSeries AKTB Network
JNPMEDIBio/Healthcare-Kakao Venture
Tour StaffShared mobility3 billionPre-Series AAlticast
Egreen GlobalAgriculture2.9 billionSeries BADB Ventures
HilokalLanguage Exchange-Pre-Series ADOHE Korea
DoodlinB2B HR4.3 billionSeries AAltos Ventures, Primer, Futureplay, Donghoon Investment, Schmidt
CJYKRental Platform-GRANTTIPS
Oceans BioBio/Healthcare-GRANTTIPS
TwoytechInterior-SeedYoonmin Foundation, Y&Archer
GPEXBlockchain1.1 billionSpectrum Payment Solutions
AlloCollaboration tool6 billionPre-Series Azoom, Atinum Investment
CoresightBigdata-Skytechnology
Business CanvasCollaboration tool5 billionSeries AXeno Investments Korea, Dunamu & Partners, Bluepointpartners, Kakao Ventures, Shinhan Capital,
PetpricePettech600 millionEugene Investment
KangstersFitness-SeedMYSC
OrdinarymagicKidscare-SeedSeoul Techno Holdings
Division networkBlockchain-Republic Realm
ViralpickEcommerce2.5 billionPre-Series AHYUNDAI VENTURE INVESTMENT, L&S Venture Capital, KDB Capital
ModucompanyParking Solution-M&ASocar

Major Funding

  • Uprise, operator of digital asset investment platform ‘Heybit’ and global ETF automatic investment service ‘Iruda Discretionary Investment’, raised 24 billion won and plans to come forward for customer acquisition.
  • Collaborative whiteboard platform Allo secured a 6 billion won investment. Its MAU has increased tenfold compared to last year, and sales have more than doubled. With this investment, the company plans to recruit talent and expand its business area.
  • Typed developer Business Canvas, an integrated documentation tool for knowledge management, raised 5 billion won. It has gained users from more than 140 countries currently. It will launch an official service next year and target the global market. 
  • Corporate recruitment management solution Doodlin secured 4.3 billion won investment. It has won over 1,300 corporate customers, including Socar, Idus, Gangnam Unni. The company will use the funds to hire talent and upgrade its services.

#Trend Analysis

Childcare startups are in the limelight after COVID-19.

Corona 19 paralyzed the world, but it also promoted the emergence of new services and the growth of industries that were lagging behind. It was also an opportunity for child-related startups for parents who had not received much attention from investors. Investments have been concentrated on services that address the childcare gap created by the closure of childcare facilities due to COVID-19.

There have been several large-scale investments overseas led by famous VCs such as Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, Softbank, Andreessen Horowitz this year. Greenlight, a fintech service for kids, raised $260 million, while Zum, a ride-sharing service for children, raised $130 million. Job search platform for working moms, The Mom Project, secured $80 million, and childcare service provider Otter also secured $23 million.

This trend has been seen in Korea as well. Child-related platforms have emerged since 2016, but they have not received much attention from investors. This year, platforms that provide Korea’s leading childcare and education services, such as Jaranda, Tictoccroc, Momsitter, attracted large investments of nearly 10 billion won. Momsitter secured 10 billion won, while Jaranda and Tictoccroc secured 9.7 billion won and 7 billion won, respectively, twice this year alone. They raised nearly half of their cumulative investment this year. It shows how high investors’ interests in childcare were this year. In addition, the kid-fintech service Lemontree, which benchmarked Greenlight, secured 5 billion won in seed investment alone. Online kids school platform Gguge and school app Athena’s Lab also attracted investment.

As these services are related to children and childcare, the majority of companies have been established by female founders. More than 60% of companies that succeeded in fundraising, including Mfort, Jaranda, Tictoccroc, Lemontree, were established by women. In terms of the field, it seems that a large amount of money has been focused only on childcare services. Providing services in various fields for both children and parents, such as child health care, finance, and recruitment, is a task to be solved. Some funds, in the global market, invest exclusively in family services, thus expanding the market. However, there is no such trend in Korea yet.

However, investment in the family tech sector, including child-related services, is expected to accelerate further as female venture partners with parenting experience demonstrate strong performances and the number of millennial women willing to pay for childcare solutions increases. 

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