[StartupRecipe] January Sees Sharp Decline in Funding

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[Feb. 13 ~ Feb. 17]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW 47.8 billion.

Company	Inudustry	Amount	Round	Investors
Pairy	B2B marketing solutions	-	Seed bridge	Strong Ventures
Addd	Digital Marketing	-	Series A	Posco Capital
Small ticket	Insuretech	-		Kyobo life planet
Afun Interactive	3D Virtual Character	7 billion		Shinhan Fund
SeedN	Proptech	1.7 billion	Pre-Series A	Korea Social Investment Foundation, Hana Financial Group, SKT-Infinitum Fund, Hana Securities, Reventures
Bluepic	Webtoon	-	M&A	Me2zen
Oceanfunding	Fintech	-	Seed	CNTTech
Bitbyte	Mobile keyboard	-		Delightroom
Splat	Scheduling solution	-	Seed	Spark Lab, 500 Global, CJ Investment, Bespin Global
Cloudhospital	Healthcare	2 billion	Pre-Series A	SJ Investment Partners, Ascendo Ventures
MOYO	MVNO	3 billion	Pre-Series A	Bass Investment, Kakao Ventures
Nmotion	mobility	-	Seed	CNTTech
Partridge Systems		2 billion	Pre-Series A	Enlight Ventures, HL Mando, Intops Investment, Cosine Investment
Norit	Kids platform	-	Seed	Seoul Techno Holdings
Tailer town	Fashion	800 million		Korea Investment Accelerator, Findus
Yune	Fashion	600 million	Pre-Series A	Korea Investment Accelerator, Jones&rocket, Mariooutlet
Mintmembers	fashion	600 million	Pre-Series A	Korea Investment Accelerator, Y&Archer
Doodlin	HR Solution	10.6 billion		Murex Partners, Atinum Investment, Altos Ventures, Future Play, Schmidt, Primer
39degrees C	Mobile app solution	-	M&A	Newid
Petaverse	Pet Metaverse	12 billion	Series A	Kakao Investment
Papamarket	Food market	7 billion	Pre-Series A	Series Ventures
VUS	Mobility	-	Pre-Series A	Korea Investment Accelerator
Simple planet	Cultured meat	-		Pulmuone
Togetherart		-		K-auction

Major Funding

• Petaverse, a pet metaverse avatar firm, raised KRW 12 billion in funding, and will use the investment to collaborate with partners on pet avatar technology for the metaverse, animation, and games. The company also acquired HelloPet, which has 10.5 million users, and plans to partner with Kakao.
• Doodlin, a B2B recruitment management solution, secures KRW 10.6 billion in funding, bringing its cumulative investment to KRW 15.9 billion. With more than 3,000 customers ranging from startups to large enterprises, Doodlin offers integrated management tools for the recruitment process, from job posting to candidate notification.
• Gyeongnam-based food distribution service, Mr. Dad, secured KRW 7 billion in funding for its direct-to-consumer early morning delivery. With both online and offline stores, the company achieved KRW 13 billion in sales during its first two years of operation.
• APN Interactive, developer of virtual character Apoki, raised 7 billion won in funding. Apoki boasts 4.8 million followers and has appeared in music programs via a contract with Sony Music Solutions in Japan. The company aims to expand its business by leveraging global IP.

#Trend Analysis

January Sees Sharp Decline in Funding

Investments in South Korean startups experienced a significant decline in January, according to monthly investment reports by StartupRecipe. Only KRW 258.9 billion flowed into startups during the month, which is down 80% year-on-year and 60% from December, indicating a worsening investment environment. This year’s inflow was even lower than that of January 2020, when there was no investment activity, suggesting that the investment market is completely frozen. The number of investments also fell below 100, with only 91 investments recorded.

Despite the challenging investment environment, some sectors managed to attract investors’ attention. Companies that provide sustainable solutions for climate and environment and those that offer solutions for manufacturing sites, including space, successfully attracted investment. B2B SaaS services that improve business efficiency also remained of interest to investors, while the B2C service sector experienced a decrease in investment news.

In the digital healthcare sector, data-driven healthcare solutions, including mental health platforms, were in the spotlight. However, the bio sector experienced fewer investments due to a downturn in the market. Startups with solid revenue models and profitable operations are still attracting funding, with proof of profitability being a key factor in attracting investment.

In January, PeopleFund, a fintech firm, raised the highest amount of funding, securing KRW 24.7 billion. While other companies in the top tier of Series C funding received approximately KRW 20 billion, there were no significant investments that substantially increased the overall funding amount.

The number of companies raising more than KRW 10 billion also fell below 10, and even companies that succeeded in attracting investment reportedly focused on achieving profits through restructuring. Some startups were unable to achieve their initially expected target price.

In terms of mergers and acquisitions, HYBE, the agency representing K-pop group BTS, acquired AI voice synthesis company SuperTone, and Kakao Picoma absorbed content translation platform VoiceThrough.

Seven female-founded companies received investments in January, amounting to KRW 6.9 billion. These companies were active in various fields, but the healthcare sector attracted significant investment, with a focus on solutions for diabetes management and sleep management. Despite the overall decrease in funding, the decline in investment for women-led companies was not substantial, and most of the funding received was in the early stages of investment.