[StartupRecipe] 30 Women-Led Startups You Need to Watch Out

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[Mar.7 ~ Mar.11]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW 340.3 billion.

Company	Inudustry	Amount	Round	Investors
Ridi	EBOOK Platform	120 billion		Korea Develpoment Bank,Atinum Investment, NVESTOR
Haegin	Game	100 billion	Series B	BonAngels Venture Partners, Storm Ventures, Kakao Ventures, Neptune, Net marble, Lotte Ventures, Netease, Alois Ventures, Korea Develpoment Bank
OGQ	Media/Content	35 billion		Tscientific
AnimalGo	Pettech	-	Seed	Future Play
Waynehills bryant ai	AI	26 billion		Shorooq Partners, Vision Creator
Goodystudio	Webtoon	-	Seed	CCEI Gyeonggi
Prevenotics	Medical AI	-	Seed	Kakao Ventures
Rootrix		-	Seed	Futureplay, Sopoong Ventures
Toeasy	Mental healthcare	1.1 billion	Pre-Series A	WISHCOMPANY, Strong Ventures
Rocketview	AI bigdata	-	M&A	Olive young
Drdiary	Bio/Healthcare	14.7 billion	Series B	Devsisters Ventures, Shinhan Investment , Insight Equity Partners, Korea Investment Partners, Smilegate Investment, We Ventures
Quarterback	Roboadvisor	10 billion		Shinhan group
Valuelinku	Logistics	7 billion	Series A bridge
Hanteoglobal	K-Culture	-	Series A	Sillicon2
Annotationai	AI	-	Pre-Series A	NPX Capital
Moin	Fintech	17.2 billion	Series B	Capstone Partners, Strong Ventures, BA Partners, Honest Ventures, Comes Investment, Inzisoft, RYUKYUNG PSGQuad Ventures, Settle bank, Coolidge Corner Investment, Shinhan Capital
Monitorapp	Security	11 billion	Pre-IPO	Korea Develpoment Bank,KDB Capital, AhnLab
Moca&JS	eSignature solution	-	Seed	The Ventures
Usimsa	Roaming data platform	-	Seed	Bluepointpartners
Mooving	Mobiltiy	6 billion	Pre-Series A	Tigris Investment, Infinitum Partners, Nau IB Capital, Rhinos, DNA Motors, Korea growth investment
Howbuild	Construction solution	4.5 billion		Softbank Ventures, Murex Partners, Hana Ventures, Kiwoom Investment
Goqual	HomeIoT	2 billion		Woomi Global
Trashbusters	Social Venture	-	Pre-Series A	Strong Ventures, Bass Investment, HYK
Choroc	ecommerce	-	M&A	Jeongyookgak.
Coatus	mobility	-	Pre-Series A	MYSC, UTC Investment, Shinhan asset management

Major Funding

• Mobility platform Socar has secured a strategic investment of 183.2 billion won from Lotte Rental, with Lotte Rental acquiring its 13.9% stake. They will jointly promote the creation of an ecosystem for future mobility businesses such as Socar, electric vehicles, parking and charging, and autonomous driving.
• KlickBrands, an e-commerce aggregator, has raised 120 billion won from Una Brands and signed a strategic partnership for global expansion. They will discover promising domestic commerce brands together and support their entry into the global market.
• Lucent Block, a real estate securities exchange, has raised 17 billion won. It will launch Sou, a platform where you can buy and sell real estate like stocks, in the first half of this year. The company is scheduled to hold a public offering.

#Trend Analysis

March 8th is International Women’s Day. Women’s voices are getting louder in all areas of society, and it has become easier to meet female founders in the startup ecosystem than before. According to Startup Recipe, female-owned companies have raised 914.7 billion won in 2021, an increase of 176% compared to 2020. The number of female-owned companies attracting investment has increased from 51 to 121.

In the past, many women-led startups were concentrated in fields where women had the upper hand, such as beauty, fashion, childcare, and education. However, we can see many prominent women entrepreneurs in various fields in recent years. Here are Korean women-led startups in each field that change women’s lives and lead social change.

As the number of working women increases, many female entrepreneurs are showing strong performances in the childcare sector. Korea’s leading platforms in the field of childcare and education, such as Jaranda, Mfort (Mom-sitter), and Tictoccroc, have all raised about 10 billion won last year, growing rapidly by resolving the childcare gap in the non-face-to-face era.

Representative edtech startups with female entrepreneurs are Class 101, which leads the online class market, and Onuii, which runs a non-face-to-face tutoring service Seoltab. Other successful examples are a communication tool for education Classum, a chat-based English learning platform Tella, and a brain development solution for kids Dobrain. All of them are online platforms that have grown significantly in the non-face-to-face era.

Kurly, which operates Market Kurly, is a representative example in the field of e-commerce. Kurly is scheduled to go public this year, and if so, it will be the first female-owned startup to succeed in the listing. Another successful case is Onul-siktak which runs a fresh seafood delivery service Onul-hoi.

There are also femtech startups that solve women’s problems with technology. Happy Moonday and Thinx address all parts of women’s health, including the sanitary pad subscription service. Rael sells organic sanitary pads. Saibnco makes female-friendly condoms, and Dansaek sells functional underwear for women. These startups offer new solutions to women’s problems with their self-made products. In the field of digital health care, there are S-Alpha Therapeutics, which develops digital therapeutics, and Silvia Health, a brain health management platform. Mabo and 40FY are promising startups in the mental care area.

Women-led companies are also active in the content and creator sector. Publy, a Career-based paid content platform, and Newneek, a newsletter for Generation MZ, strengthen their position as a content startup. Content commerce Marpple Corporation where anyone can sell their own products, and creator-tech startup Bigc are growing their businesses in the field.

In the financial field, there are Music Cow, a music copyright trading platform that has become a new investment alternative for the MZ generation, and Finda, a fintech startup providing financial information and P2P lending platform 8Percent. Furthermore, some services enhance the convenience of daily life, including mobile laundry service Washswat and a cleaning assistant matching platform Cleaning Lab. Zikooin Company, which develops meat alternatives, and SOVORO, a solution that converts sound into text, contribute to creating a sustainable world based on innovative technologies.