[StartupRecipe] Metaverse Investments Plunge 70% in Korea

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#Weekly Funding Overview

[June. 26~ June. 30]

The total funds raised by Korean startups of this week is KRW 48.85 billion.

Company	Industry	Amount	Round	Investors
Team Elsium	Digital Healthcare	-	Pre-Series A	Strong Ventures, Digital Healthcare Partners
Bind	Man Fashion commerce	-	Pre-Series A	Fast Ventures, D-Camp, Npartners
Dalpha	AI	1.3 billion	Seed	Primersazze Partners, Dunamu & Partners, Spring Camp
Learningspoons	HR Tech	-	Series A1	Kiwoom Investment, Wanted Lab
AGUNI	Agriculture	-	Pre-Series A	Infobank
Solarnetwork system	Green energy	-		Groundup ventures
Sankun	Contech	-	Pre-Series A	Strong Ventures, IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, KODIT
Clop	Healthcare	-	Seed	Future Play, Shinhan Capital
Nextor	Metaverse	4.15 billion	Seed	ISTN
XORBIS	Content	11.5 billion		GLOBAL TAX FREE, Finger Story
UNBOXERS	Global social service	1.4 billion	Seed	Bass Investment, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Goodwater Capital
Bos semi	Mobility	2 billion		Hyundai motor group
Qunova Computing	quantum computing	5 billion		Hyundai Motor, Laguna Investment, Blue Point Partners, Smilegate Investment, ID Ventures, KB Investment, Daesung Private Equity
Pierrot Company		1 billion	Pre-Series A	Primer Sazze Partners
Biomatz	Bio	2 billion	Seed	Korea Investment Partners, Gyeongnam Venture Investment, Kolmar Korea Holdings, Daewoong Pharmaceutical
Team Blackbird	Blockchain	8.5 billion	Series A	Atinum Investment, IMM Investment, SK, Bass Investment, Hillspring Investment
DeepleHR	HR	-	Pre-Series A	KB Investment, Inlight Ventures, D-Camp, Wanted Lab
Itgreen	Food delivery	-	Pre-Series A	SGC Partners, Ajou IB Investment, Lotte Ventures, KODIT
Allmtour	Travel platform	700 million	Pre-Series A	KODIT
Contoro Robotics	Robotics	6.1 billion	Seed	SV Investment, Kakao Ventures, Bass Investment, Futureplay, UT Austin Seed Fund
Plating Corp	Food	3.2 billion	Series A1	Strong Ventures, Philosopia Ventures, Tail, Korea Alternative Investment Corporation
Retail Lagoon	K Beauty	-	Seed	Korea Investment Accelerator
Schooldots	Education	-	Grant	TIPS
Moloco	Machine learning	-		EDBI, Fidelity Management & Research Company

Major Funding

• Exobis, a company specializing in immersive content, has attracted a KRW 11.5 billion investment. With the investment, they plan to expand their immersive content business and develop immersive content for exhibitions, museums, and other projects. They also have plans to fully launch the MusemX project in Sokcho, which incorporates immersive media technology.
• Team Blackbird, the developer of the on-chain data analysis platform Cryptoquant, has attracted KRW 8.5 billion in investment, securing a total funding of KRW 12 billion. They have launched Cryptoquant, utilizing their identification technology for cryptocurrency wallet identification. Through the data cited by Bloomberg, Forbes, and other sources, they have discovered abnormal signs preceding incidents such as the Luna Incident and FTX Incident.
• ConToro Robotics, a robot startup, has attracted KRW 6.1 billion (4.7 million dollars) in investment. They focus on solving container handling issues in warehouses in the United States, and this investment will accelerate the commercialization of their augmented intelligence technology.

#Trend Analysis

Metaverse Investments Plunge 70% in Korea

The metaverse, once a dominant force in the big tech market, is experiencing a decline in popularity. While the metaverse witnessed a meteoric rise during the COVID-19 pandemic, fueled by the widespread adoption of virtual reality technology across various sectors, recent setbacks in the investment landscape have resulted in a waning interest in metaverse services that have yet to prove their profitability.

According to data from startup recipe investments, Korean metaverse startups have seen a staggering 70% decrease in the funds raised from 2022 to the first half of this year. The pandemic-induced surge in metaverse services had attracted substantial investments, particularly from successful companies that secured significant funding last year. Virtual events supplanted their offline counterparts, while various domains such as virtual concerts and tools for content creation in the metaverse garnered significant attention. Capitalizing on this trend, major corporations engaged in cutthroat competition, investing in metaverse platforms and content startups to forge strategic partnerships. A few even achieved unicorn status, exemplified by V.E. Corporation, which operates a virtual studio and successfully secured investments in the ballpark of 100 billion Korean won, ascending to the unicorn realm.

However, with the economic slowdown and underwhelming business performance in metaverse-related ventures, the metaverse now finds itself on the precipice of crisis. Disney has shuttered its metaverse division, Microsoft has restructured its virtual workspace platform, AltspaceVR, and Walmart has terminated its metaverse project. Even Facebook, rebranded as Meta, placed greater emphasis on AI rather than the metaverse in its recent performance announcements.

The adaptation of users to the metaverse has proven to be a more protracted process than anticipated, leading companies to fall short of their expected profits. Consequently, risk-averse investors are recoiling from metaverse investments. This decline in financial backing can be attributed to concerns about the industry’s nascent stage and the uncertainties surrounding its potential for success.

Nevertheless, it would be premature to conclude that interest in the metaverse has entirely dissipated. In Korea, although reports of large-scale investments have dwindled, there are still metaverse startups like AmazeVR, Anipen, A-Fun Interactive, and N. Dot Light that consistently manage to secure investments year after year, positioning themselves to dominate the market. Furthermore, companies specializing in virtual character production continue to emerge. The metaverse continues to be viewed as a promising nascent industry, albeit one that necessitates time for infrastructure development and user adaptation before it can fully flourish.