[StartupRecipe] Korea’s Freelancing Economy Is Growing

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[Sep. 12~ Sep. 16]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW 44.2billion.

Company	Industry	Amount	Round	Investors
Ablej	AI	-	GRANT	TIPS
JEINS	Energy	-	GRANT	TIPS
MakeWorks communication	Camping	-		Hankook Tire, Hectocon
BookIPs	Edutech	-	GRANT	TIPS
EZED	Brand accelerator	-	Seed
Aber	Ecommerce B2B Solution	-	GRANT	TIPS
Aurumplanet	Info curation	11 billion	Series B	CJ Investment, IBK Industrial Bank, SL Investment, We Ventures, KB Investment
Coinlive	Crypto Chatting	1 billion	Pre-Series A	IOST, Humuson
EDINT	Edutech	-	GRANT	TIPS
Apartmentary	Interior	15 billion	Series C	Samchully Asset Management Company, Nepstone holdings,
Clicka	MLOps	1.4 billion	Pre seed	DeCamp, Dodam Ventures, Kimgisa lab,
Z Commerce	Ecommerce	-	Seed	CNTTech
Bind	senior leisure	-	Seed	Fast Ventures
Bottle	Golf	200 million	Seed	Pacemakers
Kiwooso	Cow management	100 million	Seed	CNTTech
TissenBioFarm	Cultured meat	2.2 billion	Pre-Series A	Future Play, Stone Bridge Ventures, Mirae Holdings , Envisioning Partners
The&planet	Media art	-		Zerotoone Partners
Gosoo+	Coliving	-	Pre-Series A	IPObridge, Gongmyung partners
Daygen	Agriculture	-	Seed	CNTTech
Sentbe	Fintech	-	Series C	tonebridge Ventures, TBT Partners, IBX Partners, Partners Investment, L&S Venture Capital, D3 Jubilee Partners, Rapid Ventures
Levit	Ecommerce	13.3 billion	Series A	Mirae Asset Capital, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Korea Investment Partners, GS Ventures, Klim Ventures

Major Funding

• Interior design startup Apartmentary has raised an additional KRW 15 billion and completed its KRW 45 billion Series C investment. The funds will be invested in upgrading services by improving design and material quality and developing IT systems.
• Levit, e-commerce for group shopping, has raised KRW 13.3 billion in funds. It has 2.5 million users, and its cumulative transaction amount exceeded 45 billion in one year after its launch.
• Aurum Planet, which offers an information curation service, has secured a KRW 11 billion investment. It operates a web highlighter Liner. It plans to focus on improving usability and innovating recommendation technology so that users can automatically receive productive and high-quality content. 

#Trend Analysis

Korea’s Freelancing Economy Is Growing

Services related to short-term jobs for professional freelancers and gig workers are on the rise. While Kmong and Soomgo were the first generations that drove the growth of the freelance market, recently, there are services to help freelancers manage their salaries and contracts as well as to match professional freelancers in more specific areas. Such platforms have become a flexible recruitment option for startups that have difficulty securing talent due to the deepening employment recession and rising labor costs in recent years.

Right operates a platform, One Point, where you can hire digital marketing experts on an hourly basis. It allows you to hire as many professionals as you need when you need them. The company selects only the top 10% of experts through verification and matches them with clients. Temporary experts solve corporate problems for rapid growth in a short period of time.

SpaceY runs DIO, a platform for experienced workers seeking side jobs. DIO can hire professionals such as developers, marketers, and designers on an hourly basis. In an environment where remote work is on the rise, the team is developing a system in which experienced talents are rewarded by working in various companies, including startups.

EasyTask matches freelancers for desk jobs on an hourly basis. It matches office workers to perform simple but time-consuming tasks, such as market research, blog management, and document editing. The company increases its market share by creating a new market beyond the professional freelancer market.

As freelance matching increases, services that help them manage their salary are also increasing at the same time. In this way, workers and companies can lessen the burden of management issues that can arise from short-term employment. DayWork Plus, a gig worker matching platform, claims to be a digital employment agency and provides on-site manpower management, advance payment of labor costs, and labor management for offline construction technicians. Paywork also operates a SaaS platform that supports wage settlement for freelancers. It manages contracts and deposits of gig workers, freelancers, or short-term hires, and users can easily check settlement details.

According to data from Boston Consulting Group, the number of gig jobs over the next five years is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 35%. The gig economy is predicted to grow significantly as more MZ generations want for flexible employment arrangements and wish to supplement their incomes with side jobs. 

Company	Description	Amount	Stage
PayWork	Task & Salary Management for Freelancers	Non-Disclosure	Seed
EasyTask	Matching Online Office Assistant	Non-Disclosure	Seed
Right	Matching Marketing Experts	Non-Disclosure	Seed
DayWork Plus	Gig Work Matching Platform	Non-Disclosure	Pre-Series A
SpaceY	Side Job Platform for Experienced Workers	Non-Disclosure	Seed