[StartupRecipe] Investors Prioritize 3D and Metaverse in Content Startup Investment

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

#Weekly Funding Overview

[April. 3 ~ April. 7]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW 66.35 billion.

Company	Industry	Amount	Round	Investors
Eromnet	Payment	-		IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, Kiwoom Securities
Bottle		-	Grant	TIPS
BROAD C&S	AICC Platform	2 billion	Series A	S 14th New Deal Innovative Growth investment partnership
Bodycherish	Sports Nutrition Tech	-	Pre-Series A	New Paradigm Investment
Marpple Corp	Goods platform	-		Nexon
Spacewavy	Module house	1 billion		Hyundai livart
we make price	Ecommerce	-	M&A	Qoo10
Mealzip	Food	500 million	Seed	Impact partners, Ecrux Venture Partners
Logpresso	Security	6 billion	Series A	KB Investment, K2 Investment Partners, CJ Investment
Speser	Document data curation	-	Seed	AI Angel-CNT Tech angel partnership 2
Medihub	Healthcare	-		Medihub Investment partnership
Wiseai	AI Platform	-		KIBO
Sensual moment	Audio platform	2 billion	Series A bridge	Sui Generis Partners
Nau Robotics	Robotics	4 billion	Series A	G&Tek Venture Investment, Dev Sisters Ventures, Hana Securities
Korea Precision Materials Industry	Materials	-	Seed	Lotte Ventures, D-Camp, Series Ventures, Sunbo Angel Partners, KODIT
Pierrot company	Refurbish device rental Platform	-	Seed	Primer, D.CAMP
Addd	AI Ad tech	-		Future Play
Remakedigital	Digital Marketing	-	M&A	Neptune
Twigfarm	Translation service	1 billion	Pre-Series A Bridge	ICH
Rightroute	Recycling	2.25 billion	Pre-Series A	Smilegate Investment, UTC Investment, The Invention Lab
Musma	Safety solution	-	Series A bridge	Shinhan Venture Investment, Quad Ventures
Yess	OS for freelencers	2.6 billion	Seed	Transpose Platform, Smilegate Investment, Sendbird CEO Kim, dongshin
BPMG	Blockchain	7 billion	Series A	Iticen, Megazone cloud, VP
Pion	Visual creative automation tool	10.5 billion	Series A	Premier Partners, Smilegate Investment, KT Investment, KB Investment, KODIT
Birdview	Beauty platform	20 billion	Pre-IPO	PS Aliacne
Narnia Labs	AI-powered Product Design	3.5 billion	Pre-Series A
Dobedub	Voice bank	2.5 billion	Seed	G-am, Storymaker Company
Packative	Custom packaging	-	Pre-Series A	Strong Ventures
Bigvalue	Proptech	-	Pre-Series B	KoDATA
Lexynaptics	Legal tech	-	Seed	Rising S Ventures, The Ventures, Sopoong Ventures, Rowe partners
Unsoft	Mobile O2O platform	-	Grant	TIPS
Cellqua	Cultured seafood	-	Seed	Sopoong Ventures
Silentist	Blockchain	1.5 billion	Seed	Bass Investment, Mashup Angels

Major Funding

• Birdview, a company that operates a mobile platform called Hwahae, has secured KRW 20 billion in pre-IPO funding. Hwahae, which was introduced in 2013, offers personalized services to users, such as the ability to browse information based on their skin type and receive product recommendations. The platform boasts an extensive database of 270,000 product information, including ingredients, as well as 7.5 million review data. The funding raised will be utilized to enhance the quality of services offered by Hwahae and prepare the platform for listing on KOSDAQ.
• Pion Corporation, the company behind VKAT, an AI-powered platform that generates advertising videos and images, has secured KRW 10.5 billion in investment. VKAT offers users the ability to swiftly create numerous advertising videos and banner images by simply entering a product URL. With this recent investment, Pion Corporation aims to expand its reach internationally and enhance its technology.
• BPMG, a web3 blockchain company that offers an array of blockchain services, including blockchain wallets, smart contracts, DApp platforms, and NFTs, has received KRW 7 billion in strategic investment. The company plans to collaborate with its strategic partners to further its business endeavors

#Trend Analysis

Investors Prioritize 3D and Metaverse in Content Startup Investment

South Korea’s media and content sector has been experiencing an unprecedented boom in recent years, fueled by the Korean Wave and K-content. The government has been actively supporting the industry, with a record-breaking pledge of KRW 790 billion in investments for small, medium, and startup companies. The Industrial Bank of Korea has also announced plans to utilize its overseas network to help content startups go global, creating even more opportunities for budding entrepreneurs.

Amidst the prolonged deterioration of the startup investment environment, venture capitalists have shown great interest in the media and content sector. Startups that are challenging the global market using intellectual property (IP), such as webtoons and web novels, have been particularly successful in attracting large-scale investments. Despite the overall downturn in startup investments, the media and content sector has maintained its position at the top of the investment preference list in the first quarter of this year.

The most coveted companies are those with 3D content technologies that can be used in metaverse spaces, such as avatars. Recent investment rounds have highlighted the importance of keywords such as 3D and metaverse. This field holds tremendous potential for various industries such as entertainment, education, games, healthcare, fashion, and CS, with opportunities for global expansion.

Content technology companies are also providing solutions for enterprises in the form of software as a service (SaaS), leading to strategic investments from corporations. NAVER, a leading search engine company, has been focusing on 3D data and making follow-up investments in related companies like NdotLight. Meanwhile, companies with content production capabilities, such as dramas, animations, and webtoons, continue to receive investments. However, the most popular webtoons and web novels did not receive much investment news in the first quarter.

Investors are keenly attuned to growth potential, with 100% of early-stage startups below Series A receiving investor attention in the first quarter of this year.