[StartupRecipe] Which startups have Korean conglomerates invested in?

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[July.47~ July. 8]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW 138.2 billion.

Company	Industry	Amount	Round	Investors
fanagement	Globalfancommerce	1.2 billion		Main Street Investment
RAFIQ Cosmetics	Beauty	4 billion	Series A	Quantum Ventures, Hana Ventures, Enlight Ventures
Monolabs	Digitalhealthcare	12.5 billion	Series B	Main Street Investment, Chungho Nice, CTK Investment, HMG
Deepplant	Foodtech	-	Seed	CNTTech
Scalar data	Electronic car charging	-		T Investment
mayoube	Kids platform	-	Pre-Series A	Xntree Ventures, Pusan National University Technology Holdings, Busan united holdings
Future Conncet	Smartfarm	5.4 billion	Pre-Series A	KB Investment, Hana Ventures, Hyundai Motor Zero One, IP Ventures
Jennerbio		-	Seed	Korea Social Investment Foundation
Humeal	Vegan milk	-	Seed	CNTTech
Tosslab	Collaboration tool	1.5 billion		Hancom Inc
Zigbang	Prophtech	100 billion		KDB Development Bank, IMM Investment, Hana Financial Investment
Makemeup	beuaty	-	M&A	Lefery
Showffle	Content	-	M&A	mobidu
uh2sa	Ecommerce	-		primer sazze patners
The Vplanet	online marketing	-	Bluepointpartners
Togle Labs	Shopingmall soultion	-	Pre-Series A	KIBO, Hana Bank, Strong Ventures
Freed group	Smart commerce	18.7 billion	Series B	ACA Investment, HKSTP CVF, SOSV, Musketeer Capital, Chinachem group,
Teamfresh	Logistics	160 billion	Series D	Murex Partners, Daol Investment, IP Ventures, Woori Bank, KT, Stick Investment, Daol Private Equity, KDB Development Bank
Gibillions	Premium dental product	-	Seed	Spark Labs, One Billion Partners, 1004 Partners
link12	Education	850 million	Pre-Series A	Angels
Dayworkplus	Geekworker payment	-	Pre-Series A	Digital trust partners
Nangman store	Foodtech	-	Seed	Spring Camp
Meissa	Contech	5.5 billion	Series B
Bzznbyd	Youtube searching engine	2.5 billion	Series A	JYP Entertainment, KDB Development Bank, Korea Venture Investment
Enoughu	Baby care platform	-	Seed	Postech holdings, Korea Univesity Technology Holdings
SYMhealthcare	Digital therapeutics	300 million		AI Angel Club, Korea Venture Investment
AMP	Kpop	-		Hexagon Investment Consulting
Gengen ai	AI	-	Seed	NAVER D2SF, Schmidt, DSC Investment
SqueezeBits	AI	-	Seed	NAVER D2SF, POSTECH HOLDINGS
Photowidz	Mobilelife service	3.5 billion	Series A	SM Entertainment Group, A-Ventures
Kost	MICE	-	Pre-Series A	NBH Capital
Buffitseoul	Fitness	3.1 billion		Critventures, BA Partners, Bokwang Ventures capital
Uju-munbanggu	Content	600 million	Seed	Mark & Company, Laguna Investment
Team Monolith	Coding School	-	Seed	Mashup Angels
Ad-Shield	Anti-adblock	-	GRANT	TIPS
Marketboro	Foodtech	40.3 billion		CJ Freshway

Major Funding

• Planetarium Labs has received KRW 41.5 billion investment, with its corporate value exceeding KRW 300 billion. As a blockchain-based RPG Nine Chronicles developer, it developed its own blockchain game engine and implemented it into its games, providing decentralized games without a central server.
• CryptoLab, a company specializing in encryption technology, has raised KRW 21 billion. With the original patent for homomorphic encryption technology, it developed HEaaN, a product based on the 4th generation of encryption technology. The company will promote technology advancement and overseas expansion with this funding.
•  Automobile aftermarket Cardoc has secured KRW 14 billion in funds. It aims to become a super app that integrates various services, like auto insurance, tires, and maintenance, into a single application.

#Trend Analysis

Which startups have Korean conglomerates invested in?

Large corporations are partnering with startups to secure new growth engines. Rather than focusing on investment returns, conglomerates are investing in startups that can generate synergy in line with their strategic direction.

KT has invested in startups in various fields to expand new businesses and enhance its competitiveness. It has also announced its plan to invest KRW 3 trillion in discovering and nurturing startups within five years. Rebellions, a startup in AI semiconductors, recently received a strategic investment from KT worth KRW 30 billion. They will collaborate on next-generation AI semiconductor design, verification, and large-capacity language models to introduce AI semiconductors next year and apply them to Internet data centers(IDC). KT has also invested KRW 130 billion in Megazone Cloud and is collaborating in cloud businesses, such as establishing an AI contact center platform.

KT has invested KRW 55.3 billion in logistics startup Team Fresh and became the second-largest shareholder. After establishing Lolab, its subsidiary specializing in logistics, last year, KT is strategically investing in Team Fresh, a cold chain logistics company, and expanding its digital logistics business.

CJ Group is also investing in startups to cooperate with its affiliates. CJ ENM made a strategic investment of KRW 20 billion in the luxury e-commerce Must It in order to build synergy through producing entertainment content in addition to commerce business. CJ looks forward to generating a synergy effect through joint cooperation between Must It, whose customers base in their 20s and 30s, and CJ OnStyle, a commerce channel of CJ ENM with customers in their 40s and 50s.

BeMyFriends has received an investment of KRW 22.4 billion from CJ and collaborates with various projects and infrastructures of CJ affiliates in the creator economy business. BeMyFriends offers a global service that enables creators to develop a fandom platform, and it is anticipated that this will lead to synergy in CJ’s entertainment industry. CJ Freshway placed a KRW 40.3 billion bet on Marketboro, a food distribution startup. This investment can be viewed as a means of securing the capabilities necessary to preoccupy the future food distribution market as part of the digital transformation strategy announced last year.

In order to assure competitiveness, Lotte Group is implementing a consistent approach across all of its affiliates by acquiring and funding startups. In March, it made a strategic investment of KRW 183.2 billion in Socar and secured 13.9% of its stake to become the third-largest shareholder. In an effort to engage in the mobility sector, Lotte Chemical invested KRW 65 billion in Standard Energy, a startup developing next-generation vanadium batteries. In addition, Lotte Group recently invested KRW 5 billion in Blocko to start the NFT business. 

Shinhan Financial Group made a strategic investment of KRW 10 billion in a remodeling startup Apartmentary in April. Through this investment, they plan to collaborate in various fields, from providing financial services such as installment financing for consumers and developing interior packages tailored to senior customers in connection with the group’s digital healthcare business. Shinhan Financial Group has created a fund worth KRW 300 billion for startup investment and is fostering and discovering startups through various acceleration programs.

Company	Sector	Investment (Unit:KRW 100 million)	Investor
Socar	Mobility	1,832	Lotte rental
Megazone Cloud	Cloud	1,300	KT
Parking Cloud	Parking platform	1,000	SK E&S, NHN
Standard Energy	Vanadium ion battery	650	Lotte Chemical
Hegin	Mobile game	500	SKT, SK Square
Teamfresh	Coldchain logistics	553	KT
Marketboro	Foodtech	403	CJ Freshyway
Rebelion	AI Chip	300	KT
Bemyfriends	Global Fandom Platform	224	CJ, CJ Olivenetworks
Mustit	Luxyry Platform	200	CJ ENM
EVR Studio	Metaverse	170	Cheil
Block odyssey	Blockchain	108	SK Networks
Apartmentary	Interior	100	Shinhan financial Group
Music cow	Fintech	60	Hanwha System