[StartupRecipe] Active investors in the first half of the year in Korea

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[Aug. 8~ Aug. 12]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW 142.5 billion.

Company	Inudustry	Amount	Round	Investors
InfiniteBlock	Digital Asset	-	Seed	SK Securities, DGB Daegu Bank
42Dot	Mobility	-	M&A	Hyundai Motor Group
Trineedle	Live Streaming	-	GRANT	TIPS
Twowhy	Interior	-	Pre-Series A	Enlight Ventures, Kibo, DG Tech Holdings
SOVORO	STT Solution	1.4 billion	Series A	D3 jubilee Partners, POSTECH Holdings, IPS Ventures, Blue Point Partners
Along	Pettech	-	Seed	LG U+
Shoppingcodi	Shopping	300 million		AI Angel club
R2C Company	Research	-	Seed	Newborn Ventures
Groupby	Engineer HR	-	Seed	The Ventures
Moveawheel	Road infra solution	800 million	Seed
iocrops	Smart farm	3.4 billion	Series A	Enlight Ventures, Seoul National University Technology Holdings, BNK Venture Investment, Capstone Partners
Aloha factory		6 billion	Series A	LB Investment, Korea Investment Partners, Crit Ventures, POSCO Technology Investment
PALMTREE ISLAND	Entertainment	-	M&A	Loud Corporation
Proground	Running Platform	-		Wemade
Conpapa	Webtoon	400 million	Seed	Klim Ventures, Fast Ventures, Bluerun Ventures, BRV Capital managment, Goodwater Capital, Sandbox Network, Kim, Sanghun
Ascent sport	Sports nutrition	-	Seed	KIBO
OrangeBiomed	Medical device	-	Pre-Series A	Digital Healthcare Partners, (Seoul Technology Investment
Quantec	Robo Advisor	5 billion	Series C
Buildblock	Prophtech	10 billion	Series A	IS Dongseo, Crit Ventures, Primer Sazze Partners
StradVision	Mobility	107.6 billion	Series C	Aptiv, ZF, LSS PE, Kclavis, TimePolio Investment, nvester
Luca AICell	BIO	5 billion		Korea Development Bank
Zentry	Pettech	-	GRANT	TIPS
Aroundable	Rental Platform	-	GRANT	TIPS
Metaworld	Metaverse	-		Com2us
Actnova	3D Behavior analysis	500 million	Seed	Kakao Ventures
Reset Company	Solar Energy	-	Seed	Series Ventures
Doodlefactory	HR	-	M&A	Jobis&villains
InTheCore Business Platform	Smart hotel	-	Pre-Series A	Hyndai Motors Zeroone
Zeroxflow	Education	1.8 billion	Pre-Series A	Laguna Investment, Must Ventures, Astone ventures, Angels
Refeely	ECO Packaging	800 million	Seed	Yoonmin Foundation, Next Dream Angel Club, Blue Point Partners, Lotte Ventures
Weebur	Workshop	-		Wanted lab

Major Funding

• StradVision completed an investment of KRW 107.6 billion from domestic and foreign investors, including Aptiv, one of the three key players in the autonomous driving industry. StradVision develops advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and AI-based camera recognition software for autonomous driving. It will promote large-scale mass-production projects and increase its staff.
• BuildBlock, a US real estate investment service, secured KRW 10 billion in investment. It offers resources for US real estate investing as well as assistance with complex administrative procedures. Its total transactions exceeded KRW 100 billion as of May this year.
• Robo-advisor Quantec raised KRW 5 billion and was valued at KRW 86 billion. Its corporate value has doubled after receiving investment in July of last year.
• Aloha Factory, which develops hyper-casual games, received a KRW 6 billion investment. Its game Kiss in Public reached 10 million downloads. The company plans to diversify into mid-core casual games with this funding.

#Trend Analysis

Active investors in the first half of the year in Korea

Despite the shrinking investment market, funds are still flowing into promising startups. We looked at the active investors of this year, from policy funds to VCs and accelerators.

According to data from Startup Recipe, the state-run bank Korea Development Bank has been the most active investor this year. It participated in sizable investments in major unicorn startups like Viva Republica, Zigbang, and Bucket Place. It has invested in innovative companies across all stages and industries, including fintech, space, semiconductor, and lifestyle. Last year, KDB also created an innovative growth fund to support promising companies. It runs the venture nurturing platforms, NextOne and NextRound, and has established itself as a key player in the domestic startup investment ecosystem, from discovering local startups to assisting with global expansion.

Venture capital under financial institutions is also active in investment. Leading companies include KB Investment, which is expanding early-stage investment, Korea Investment Partners, which has the greatest AUM(assets under management), Hana Ventures, and Shinhan Capital. IMM Investment and Atinum Investment are also bridging the investment gap in the Series B or higher growth stage.

Among investment firms and CVCs affiliated with IT companies, Kakao Ventures, Naver D2SF, and Smilegate Investment accelerated their investment. Kakao Ventures is increasing its investment in the healthcare sector, and Naver D2SF is expanding its investment by continuing its follow-up investment. Spring Camp and US investment firm Strong Ventures actively invested among the early investors and accelerators. Pre-IPO accelerators that are set to go public, such as Blue Point Partners, Future Play, and CNT Tech, also made an active investment.

Investors	Company
Korea Development Bank	Dealicious, Vueron Technology, Musma, Apartmentary, Armored Fresh, Bucket Place, Nara Space Technology, Team Fresh, Zigbang, Rebellions, Contec, Bbodek, Ssenstone, Viva Republica
KB Investment	Carpenstreet, Team Sparta, Levit, Morai, Quarterback, Kodebox, Neubility, RebuilderAI, Rebellions, Bbodek
Korea Investment Partners	Robo Arte, Glorang, Mondayoff, Recon Labs, Jaranda, WAD, Fast Forward, Dr. Diary, Adriel, SemiFive
Kakao Ventures	Iskra, Jaranda, Prevenotics, Rapport Labs, Kiboko, Conalog, LikeLion, Rebellions, Loonshot Company, Recon Labs, Medility, Asleep
Hana Ventures	Fastforward, Block oddyssey, howbuild, Storelink, Nara Space technology, Atostudy, Nuvent, Rafiq, Sirloin
NaverD2SF	Modhaus, Daim Research, Laplace Technologies, New Vessel, N.Light, Recon Labs, Onthelook, Myfranchise, SqueezeBits, GenGenAI, Safetics, Floatic, Gaudio Lab, Z-Emotion
IMM Investment	Zigbang, Looman Lab, Rebelion, My Franchise, Uptera, Bucket Place, Bear Robotics, Hutom, Orchestra, Wellt, Neubility
Spring Camp	Macovill, BlueSignum, Proground, Chunmyung & Company, Planfit, Merakiplace, D.WHALE, Somssidang
Futureplay	Neubility, Mayi, XL8, Torder, Carchap, Arooo, Aidin Robotics
Bluepoint partners	Sovoro, Kidspay, Bebridge, liveanywhere, Musma, Blinkers
Strong Ventures	Interior teacher, Moin, Modudoc, Plating, Beawocorp.
Cntech	LOSH KOREA, DOSEODAM, Spacepet, Doorkitchen, Scalar data