[StartupRecipe]Investment Trends of H1 2023: Sectors That Stand Out Amidst Decline

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[June. 12 ~ June. 16]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW 65.8 billion.

Company	Industry	Amount	Round	Investors
Epic Corp.	Luxury Resell	2.4 billion	Pre-Series A	Fast Ventures, Shinhan Venture Investment, Bass Investment
Right	HR	-	Grant	TIPS
Mewpot	Content IP	-	Pre-Series A	Blue Point Partners
I aurora	Financial Service	-		IBK Industrial Bank of Korea
Qliii	Proptech	-	Seed Bridge	JB, Krypton, MYSC
Bookers	Ebook B2B	-	Seed	Blue Point Partners
SqueezeBits	AI	-	Grant	Deeptech TIPS
Employee Labs Inc.	HR	-	Pre-Series A	Korea Investment Accelerator
Career day	HR	400 million	Seed Bridge	D.CAMP, KODIT, Yusung electonics
Zio robot	Robotics	-	Grant	Deeptech TIPS
Ctcells	Bio	-	Grant	Deeptech TIPS
Fitpet	pettech	23 billion	Series B Bridge	LB Investment, BRV Capital Management, KDB Development Bank
Bigmobility	Parking Service	-	Seed	Bon Angels Venture Partners
The origin	Content IP	13.3 billion	Seed	Korea Investment Partners, Schmidt, Groom Investment Lotte Ventures, Hyundai Technology Investment, NH Investment & Securities, Kiwoom Investment, Now IB Capital, Industrial Bank of Korea, Laguna Investment,
NdotLight	3D Design	2.1 billion	Series A	Samsung Venture Investment
Thesleep factory	Sleepcare	-	Grant	TIPS
Korea Asset Purchase	Real Estate	-		Blue Point Partners
APR	Beauty	1 billion	Pre-IPO	CJ Onstyle
Foresys	waste treatment	2 billion	Series A Bridge	KDB Development Bank, Hyundai Motor Zero One, MYSC, The Wells Investment
ADDD	ADtech	5.7 billion	Series A	DevSisters Ventures, POSTECH Holdings, Futureplay, Shinhan Tech Innovation, The Wells Investment, KODIT, Shinhan Asset Management
Wrtn Technologies	AI	15 billion	Series A	Capstone Partners, KDB Development Bank, Z Venture Capital, Woori Venture Partners, Hana Bank, Hana Securities, KB Securities
GENFITX	Golf fitting	300 million	Seed	VTNG
Moye	Sports education	600 million	Seed	Kudos Ventures
Meisters	A/S Management	-	Pre-Series A	KODIT
Kkunad	Vietnam ecommerce	-	Pre-Series A	New Paradigm Investment

Major Funding

• Fitpet, a pet healthcare company, has raised an additional investment of KRW 23 billion, completing a total investment of KRW 28 billion. Fitpet operates the ‘Ahead’ pet testing service and a health-customized petmall. With this investment, the company intends to focus on solution development, veterinary hospital-related businesses, and pet insurance.
• Wrtn Technologies, a cutting-edge generative AI company, has secured an investment of KRW 15 billion, bringing its total accumulated investment to KRW 19 billion. Wrtn Technologies operates ‘wrtn 2.0,’ an AI portal service based on GPT-4, NAVER HyperCLOVA, and its proprietary language model. The company plans to utilize the investment to recruit top talent and enhance its services.
• The origin, a content IP company, has successfully obtained an investment of KRW 13.3 billion. Dorigin’s objective is to develop versatile intellectual properties (IPs) that can be utilized across various mediums, including movies, dramas, and webtoons. The company aims to diversify its business ventures with this investment.

#Trend Analysis

Investment Trends of H1 2023: Sectors That Stand Out Amidst Decline

The initial half of 2023 lies ahead, yet the funding landscape has already witnessed a substantial setback in the first quarter, plunging by a staggering 77% compared to the previous year. Consequently, it is highly probable that the funding for the first six months of this year will exhibit a notable decline when compared to the previous period. However, amidst this challenging climate, certain sectors manage to retain their allure, drawing the interest of investors. Below is an insightful breakdown of companies that have successfully secured over $10 billion WON in funding, categorized by sector.

Software emerges as the frontrunner, boasting the highest number of deals, with a noteworthy dominance of AI technology-based enterprises. Moreover, investment in generative AI companies is on an upward trajectory. Notable beneficiaries of investment include Luton, amassing a staggering KRW 15 billion in funding, closely followed by ScatterLab and Pion Corporation, both securing a significant KRW 15 billion and KRW 10.5 billion respectively. Strikingly, semiconductor companies are defying the ongoing semiconductor recession by actively investing in the AI frenzy. Exemplifying this trend are Padoo, a fabless company that achieved the coveted unicorn status this year with an impressive KRW 12 billion investment, and IntoCore, a small firm leveraging plasma technology in semiconductor processes, successfully attracting KRW 12.5 billion in funding.

Within the consumer tech sphere, investment continues to gravitate towards the realms of fashion and resell. Prominent players such as Kream and AblyCorp have triumphantly secured substantial funding rounds, surpassing KRW 50 billion. Furthermore, the beauty company Birdview, poised for an imminent public offering, is gaining notable traction in this space, capturing KRW 20 billion in funding. Nevertheless, the emergence of a new platform powerhouse remains absent, signifying potential opportunities for future disruptors.

The fintech sector, renowned for its ability to attract substantial investment per company, naturally emerges as the highest recipient of funding. Noteworthy front-runners include BeyondMusic and MusicCow, specializing in the investment and trading of intellectual property rights, both securing remarkable sums of KRW 200 billion and KRW 60 billion respectively. Remarkably, PeopleFund, PayHere, and TravelWallet also secured substantial investments, amounting to KRW 24.7 billion, KRW 20 billion, and KWR19.7 billion respectively.

The content media sector has emerged as a hotbed for investors, propelled by the K-content craze. Investment inflows have primarily focused on content creators whose core competency lies in content intellectual property. Additionally, sustainable sectors such as Cellmeat and Ricoh have experienced considerable investments throughout the year.

Despite the prevailing slowdown in investment, certain noteworthy areas continue to captivate attention. Particularly, the field of artificial intelligence, intrinsically linked to future competitiveness, is poised to witness a surge in demand as it finds widespread application across various industries. Consequently, investors remain steadfast in allocating funds to this domain. Moreover, the semiconductor field, closely intertwined with AI, is expected to sustain its allure for investors and companies, reflecting ongoing investment trends.