[StartupRecipe] Korea adds 5 new unicorns in the first half of 2022; total now 23

Access to the latest Korean startup news and startup database for free

#Weekly Funding Overview

[July.18~ July.22]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW 403.55 billion.

Company	Inudustry	Amount	Round	Investors
Pluglink	Electronic car charging	7 billion	Series A	MC Partners, Schmidt-DSC Future Mobility Fund, Hana Ventures, Korea Plant Services
Geekble	Content	5 billion	Series A bridge	Hyundai Motor Zero One, Smilegate Investment, Cosine Investment, Daekyo Investment, CKD Venture Capital
XL8.AI	Video translating	3.6 billion	Pre-Series A Bridge	Atinum Investment, Future Play
we are friends	Travel	-		Kibo
Social Investing Lab	Social Investment Platform	-		KB Securities
Fainders.ai	AI Check out	7.1 billion	Series A	Company K Partners, Crit Ventures, SDB Investment, Quantum Ventures, Klim Ventures
ZET	Mobility	-	M&A	Gbike
Nautilus	Webtoon	3.45 billion	Series A	Kakao Ventures, Bon Angels Venture Partners, Future Play, Smilegate Investment
Edutem	Education	-	Pre-Series A	New Paradigm Investment
dlp.studio	Web novel	-	Seed	Mashup Angels
Recore	Logistics	1.5 billion		Korea Investment Accelerator, Asia F&I
Weraser		-	GRANT	TIPS
Aiofarm	Agriculture	-	GRANT	TIPS
Minding	Routine app	-	M&A	Delightroom
Viva Republica	Fintech	300 billion		Altos Ventures, KDB Development Bank, Kwangju Bank, Daol Investment, Mirae Asset Securities, Goodwater Capital, Greyhound
redbrick	Metaverse	18 billion	Series B	NH Investment & Securities, F&F Partners, AIon Asset Management, YG Investment
Netspa	Recycling	1.5 billion	Series A bridge	HGI, Daesung Venture Capital
Losh Korea	Senior Care	-	Seed	CNTTech
Floatic	Logistics	3.4 billion	Pre-Series A	Bhigh Investment, Hyundai Motor Group Zero One, KDB Development Bank, IBK Industrial Bank, Naver D2SF
acrossb	Logistics	-	Pre-Series A	K2G, Otium Capital, KOSME
Bold9	Fullfillment	1 billion	Series A	Yongma logis
Merchant Korea	Mobile Phone	-	M&A	Viva Republica
Bebridge	Education tool	2.5 billion	Pre-Series A	Magna Investment, Blue Point Partners, DT & Investment
MotionLabs	femtech	-	GRANT	TIPS
Whynot media	Media/Content	22 billion	Series C	Shinhan Capital, DS Asset Management, History Investment Management, Value System Asset Management, WIZYWIC STUDIO
Tessa	Arttech	2 billion	Series A2
Kitchenx	Shared Kitchen	3 billion	Series A	Infinitum Partners
Cryptotax	Blockchain	-	Seed	Hashed
Savvy	Smart toilet	-	Seed	CNTTech
Glorang	Education	12 billion	Series A	Korea Investment Partners, Murex Partners, Parksha Capital, DSC Investment, Kolon Investment
Pumpkin company	Pettech	-		CG
Dali	Beverage delivery	-		Inscobee
Thecheat		-		KaKaopay
Bepluslab	Healthcare	2 billion	Pre-Series A	Mediwell Holdings, HPO
Humanitsolution	Healthcare	1 billion	Series A	Korea Develpoment Bank

Major Funding

• Toss operator Viva Republica has raised KRW 300 billion, with its enterprise value at KRW 8.5 trillion. It will secure an additional investment in August.
• Content company Whynot Media has closed its funding round of KRW 22 billion. It recently purchased the drama production businesses OZ Arena and The Great Show in order to ensure production capabilities for both short-form and feature-length content and develop into a comprehensive content company.
• KRW 12 billion has been invested in Glorang, the company that runs the talent-development platform for young children “Gguge”. It has the largest market share among non-face-to-face kids platforms, with 2,600 cumulative lessons and 1,000 qualified teachers. It will focus on popularizing the service with the funds.

#Trend Analysis

Korea adds 5 new unicorns in the first half of 2022; total now 23

Five Korean startups made it to the list of unicorns in the first half of this year, bringing the total number of unicorns in Korea up from 18 to 23.

The newly added unicorns are Megazone Cloud (cloud service), SHIFT UP(mobile game developer), IGAWorks (big data platform), GC Company (YeogiEottae, O2O service), and Oasis (Oasis Market, fresh food delivery). According to CB Insight, Korea ranked 10th with 15 unicorns, after the U.S. with 628, China with 174, and India with 68.

<new 5 startups>

Megazone Cloud= Megazone Cloud, which was spun off from Megazone in 2018, has grown into the largest cloud-specialized MSP in Korea by providing a total one-stop service for consulting, designing, developing, and running cloud services like Amazon.

GC Company= YeogiEottae, a travel and accommodation platform, started as a reservation service for hotels and resorts in 2014. It is in competition with Yanolja. Its corporate value has quadrupled after CVC Capital acquired it in 2019. Recently, it has started an overseas travel service and expanded its business to car rentals, party room rentals, and studio bookings.

Oasis= Oasis Market expanded its business by introducing its first online early morning delivery service in 2018. In 2020, it recorded KRW 238.6 billion in sales and KRW 9.7 billion in operating profit, securing the title of the only morning delivery company in surplus. The company is gearing up for an IPO this year with a strong profit margin. 

SHIFT UP= Shiftup is a game company founded by a famous game illustrator in 2013 and has been successful in Korea and Japan with Destiny Child. Its enterprise value reached KRW 1 trillion during the stake sale process, making it a unicorn. It is now developing a new mobile game “Nike” that will premiere this year.

IGAWorks= IGAWorks is a comprehensive data technology company established in 2006. It runs an advertising platform that gathers and examines data on mobile users, gives advertisers analytical information, and executes advertisements with the data. Last year, it recorded a net profit of KRW 5.3 billion and marked a turnaround. It moves forward with the IPO plan.