[StartupRecipe] Investment in Fintech sector soars

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[Aug. 1~ Aug. 5]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW 79.5 billion.

Company	Industry	Amount	Round	Investors
Directional	Blockchain	-	M&A	QVIOUS
Yourwish	Gift	100 million	Seed	Y&Archers
Cobot	Robotics	-	M&A	XYZ
Studio Galilei	Mobility	-		Kakao Mobility
Crepay	Payment	-	Seed	Bon Angels Venture Partners
Autocrypt	Mobility	32.5 billion	Series B	Korea Asset Investment & Securities, Ermus Investment, BSK Investment, Shinhan Venture Investment, JB Asset Management, Stick Ventures, Pathfinder H, Hyundai Technology Investment
Z-Emotion	3D fitting solution	-		Naver D2SF
Gaudio Lab	Audio SW	-		Naver D2SF
Connecteve	Healthcare	-	Seed	Kakao Ventures
Whatsong	Hotel solution	-		ONDA Management
Maumfood	Food healthcare	-	Seed	Blue Point Partners, Kingsley Ventures
Openskyedu	Education	-	Pre-Series A	Kodit
Openull	BNPL	-	Pre-Series A	Shinhan Capital, Infobank, BlockCrafts
Deer corporation	Mobility	-	Series B	Feyman Asset management
Greyscale	Senior commerce	-	Pre-Series A	New Paradigm Investment
Binary bridge	Logistics solution	4.4 billion	Pre-Series A	Posco Capital, Laguna Investment, BonAngels Venture Partners
STCLAB	Software	9 billion	Series A	DS Asset Management, TY Partners, Leading capital
Marqvision	IP Protection	26 billion	Series A	DST Global, Atinum Investement
Nextstage	Game	2 billion		Stand Company
Lawired Company	Legal tech	-	GRANT	TIPS
Panda Corporation	Agri tech	-	M&A	Vegi star
Weflo	Mobility	-	GRANT	TIPS
Growing Sales	Mobile POS	-	GRANT	TIPS
Baroon	Golf	250 million	Pre-Series A	SB 1 Fund
Baewo Corp	Care center	3.5 billion		Dunamu & Partners, Strong Ventures, Aju Contnuum
Reinfer	NLP	-	M&A	UIPATH
Major Map	Education	-	Pre-Series A	Tap Angel Partners, SOSV
Bookips	Book license	1.3 billion	Pre-Series A	KB Investment, Behigh Investment, Sopoong Ventures

Major Funding

• AutoCrypt, a self-driving security mobility platform, has received an investment of KRW 32.5 billion, bringing the total investment to KRW 50 billion. Following its subsidiaries in Canada and Germany, it plans to open an office in Singapore at the end of this year. It will aggressively expand its business by collaborating with global automakers and mobility companies.
• MarqVision, a company that offers monitoring systems for counterfeit goods, has funded KRW 26 billion. It provides SaaS services to 100 brands, including global e-commerce, social media, and the NFT marketplace. With this funding, it plans to develop a SaaS product that can create, manage, protect and monetize corporate IP all in one place.
• STC Lab has secured KRW 9 billion investment. The company operates traffic control solutions and user monitoring and analysis solutions. With the funds, it will strengthen its R&D capabilities to enable traffic management in cloud-oriented IT infrastructure.

#Trend Analysis

Investment in Fintech sector soars

According to investment data from Startup Recipe, fintech has been the most prominent and growing area in the first half of this year. Viva Republica, a fintech startup, had secured the most funding as of the end of July. As the digital transformation of the financial industry accelerates, various fintech models are emerging. Let’s look at the areas that receive the most funding.

Digital financial services, which make financial services easier and simpler, are the area with the largest funding. Viva Republica, a Toss operator that started with a basic remittance service, recently raised a large amount of KRW 300 billion. It joined the banking, securities, insurance, payments, and telecommunications industries and is developing into an easy-to-use financial super app. 

Robo-Advisor, which uses AI to manage individualized assets, is also drawing attention. Qraft Technologies, Uprise, and Quarterback are the prime examples. Asset management services, which in the past were exclusively available to a select few wealthy individuals, have become more widely available and popular to Generation MZ. The robo-advisor has driven the increase in overall investment attraction this year. Digital transformation is taking place in the tax and insurance sectors as well.  With the rise of gig workers, Jobis & Villains has expanded quickly by making personal tax refunds simpler. It has obtained a large amount of KRW 30 billion in funds.

A fractional investment is the new market that investors are paying attention to. The potential for future growth has made it very prominent.  Starting with Music Cow, which allows users to buy music copyrights like stocks, various models are emerging, such as the joint purchase of real estate and artworks. Music Cow is taking the lead in this field by raising more than KRW 100 billion in investment this year and formalizing its global expansion. Other major companies include Lucent Block, which sells real estate in pieces, Yeolmae Company and Tessa, where users can co-purchase artwork, and Buysell Standards, which sells stakes in luxury goods.

The Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) model is also in the limelight. In spite of the fact that this model has already proved its potential for growth in the global market, there are just a few BNPL startups in Korea, and the majority of them are still in the early phases. Companies that provide B2B BNPL services have recently emerged. Recently, companies that offer B2B BNPL services came out. The economic crisis has decreased the value of related startups, yet global tech giants like Apple are entering the market. 

Some are drawing attention because of their distinctive business models or because they cater to customers in the Generation MZ. They are Monee Lab, a financial platform geared for young people, and Social Investing Lab, an investment platform that blends social media and investment. Dongnae, a real estate fintech startup, has raised substantial funding while being in its early stages by introducing a strategy that reduces the burden of deposits.

The government’s active deregulation is another factor in the expansion of such a wide range of fintech businesses in Korea. The P2P service, which was classified as a loan business, was incorporated into the system and created an environment for new financial services such as D-test beds and regulatory sandboxes to emerge. The FSC recently announced that it would also ease regulations on existing financial companies, such as relaxing regulations on virtual assets, which is anticipated to result in the emergence of additional new fintech services.