[StartupRecipe] Pet Tech Startups Are Still Going Strong

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[May 23~ May. 27]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW  131.6 billion.

Company	Industry	Amount	Round	Investors
Innovaid	Healthcare	-	Seed	Spring Camp
Moverse	3D Motion	-	Seed	Sparklab, Infobank
forSPACElab	Foodtech	2 billion	Pre-Series A	Coocon
UMAG	Music content	5.1 billion		Intervest, Solaire Partners, We Ventures, IBK Industrial Bank, ID Ventures
Wairi	Travel	-	Seed	Realwesen, CNTTECH
Jaranada	Kids platform	-	Seed	Yoonmin Foundation
Space oddity	Music	4 billion	Series A	KC Ventures, Kiwoom Investment, SBI Investment
Bamboo network	Content Studio	6 billion	Pre-Series B	Kyobo Securities, Pentaston Investment, Kyobo Securities, Pentaston Investment
Uneedcomms	Ecommerce solution	-		Naver D2SF, CJ ENM Commerce, Kolon Investment, TS Investment, Daekyung Investment
Onthelook	Fashion content	3 billion	Pre-Series A	Naver D2SF, Devsisters Ventures, Hana Ventures, KB Investment, Nest Company
Pitterpetter	pettech	-	Seed	Petfriends
Directors Company	Advertising	15 billion	Series A	Kiwoom Securities, Quad Asset Managemen
Point2 Technology	Network Cable	27.8 billion		Molex, GU Equity Partners, Samsung Securities, Shinhan Capital, Tigris Investment, K2 Investment, Korea Omega Investment, TimeFolio Asset Management, Nautilus, Quantum Ventures Korea, Walden International
Knowmerce	Artist IP Company	25 billion	Series C	Korea Development Bank, Dunamu, Medici Investment, Daishin Securities, BSK Investment-Shinyoung Securities
Sankun	Construction solution	-	Seed	Strong Ventures
InstaCoin	Blockchain	-		Maison Chaudun
DOEAT	Food delivery	2.6 billion	Seed	Hashed, DBC Accelerator
Teamdots	Online school	-	Seed	Fast Ventures
Wello	Information platform	-	GRANT	TIPS
Ourbox	Fullfillment	20 billion	Series B	BK-BNK PE, Kolon Investment, NH Hedge Asset Management, DS Networks, Naver, SV Investment, Halla Holdings,
Artificial Society	Education	-	GRANT	TIPS
Gwatop	Education	-		Mathpresso
Safetics	Robotics	1.1 billion	Pre-Series A	Bigbasin Capital
Earlysloth	Survey platform	-		Hana Financial Investment, K&Investment Partners, Goodwater Capital, The Ventures
RXC	Live commerce	20 billion	Pre-Series A	JTBC, Z Ventures, LB Investment

Major Funding

• Wonderwall operator Knowmerce has secured KRW 25 billion in investment. It offers educational content taught by famous celebrities, as well as merchandise production and collaboration projects with artists.
• Fulfillment startup Ourbox has raised KRW 20 billion. It provides customized logistics services to large enterprises and SME sellers with its own logistics system. Cold chain fulfillment is its forte, which specializes in delivering refrigerated and frozen goods
•  Mobile e-commerce RXC has received KRW 20 billion worth of investment. PRIZM, a retail media platform that delivers brand messages through live broadcasts and short videos, was launched in March. It is a platform that implements more than 100 brands in a mobile showroom, focusing on the lifestyle of the MZ generation.
•  Point2 Technology, a network equipment developer, has raised KRW 27.8 billion. It manufactured ultra-fast/low-power optical communication cables used in 5G data centers to address the drawbacks of copper wires and optical cables. It plans to expand its product line to meet terabit bandwidth requirements for cloud-based infrastructure.

#Trend Analysis

Even during a period of stagnation, pet tech startups remain popular in the investment market due to their future growth potential. In 2022, the worldwide pet industry is predicted to be worth $261 billion (KRW 327 trillion), while the Korean pet industry is expected to reach KRW 6 trillion by 2027. The pet humanization trend, in which companion animals are treated as family members, is accelerating the industry’s growth.

This high growth potential attracts investors to pet startups. Strategic investments by venture capital firms, large corporations, and pharmaceutical companies are on the rise. 16 pet startups have already completed their funding as of May this year. The majority of the startups are in their early stages, and more than 80% are related to pet health care.

Pet data is the most popular area because it can be expanded to various businesses by incorporating medical and hospital data. Many startups are eager to expand into a lifestyle service that manages the entire life cycle of companion animals. Fitpet, the pet startup with the most funding, is pursuing a super-app strategy that manages the life cycle of companion animals, covering everything from e-commerce to healthcare. It promotes a pet insurance company based on the data obtained from the test kit. Petner also plans to expand beyond healthcare to the insurance market. Some have attracted investment from large corporations. Iamdt received an investment from GS Retail as a management support service for veterinary hospitals. GS Retail is continuing to make strategic investments in pet startups, seeing them as potential growth engines in the future. Last year, it bought Pet Friends and invested in 8 pet startups. Other notable startups include Varram System, which provides an IoT feeder that can analyze companion animals’ eating habits, and PitterPetter, which provides a disease prevention guide through genetic analysis.

However, there are questions about whether pet startups can achieve explosive growth in a J-shaped curve. Since the companies that have received investment are mostly early-stage startups, only a few have been successful in attracting large-scale funding. There have been no significant M&As or IPO since Pet Friends was acquired for KRW 100 billion last year.

Company	Description	Funds	Round
Fitpet	Pet Healthcare	KRW 20 billion
iamdt	Management Support for Veterinary Hospital	KRW 7.5 billion	Series A
Biteme	Pet Lifestyle Platform	KRW 4.5 billion	Series A
Petner	Pet Healthcare	KRW 1.7 billion	Series A
Elevenliter	Pet Healthcare		Seed
Varram System	IoT Pet Healthcare		Series A
Keybasic	Health Supplement for Pet		Pre-Series A
Bubblecloud	O2O Platform for Pet Beauty Care		Seed
Dr.Tail	Advice from Vets		TIPS
Spacepet	Pet Care Community		Seed
Momo Project	Pet Healthcare		Seed
Animalgo	One-stop Solution for Pets		Seed
Berg&Ridge	Pet Products & Pet Healthcare		Seed
Remedy	Upcycling Pet Tech		Seed
Pitterpetter	Gene Analysis for Pets		Seed
FridgeCrew	Customer Management Solution for Pet Shops		TIPS