Service marketplace Soomgo raises nearly $30 mn in Series C round

South Korea-based Brave Mobile Inc., the operator of service matching platform Soomgo, has secured 32 billion won ($28.6 million) in a Series C funding round, bringing the company's total amount raised to around 50 billion won.

Participants of the latest round included previous investors such as IMM Investment, Strong Ventures, TBT and Atinum Investment. Newcomers included the Korea Development Bank, IBX Partners, Lakewood Partners and We Ventures, according to the startup industry on June 14.

Founded in 2014, Soomgo is a service marketplace that matches users with service providers. The name Soomgo is a shortened version of the Korean phrase, "soomeun gosoo", which means "hidden master". 

Soomgo has been referred to as the "Thumbtack for Korea". The company received much attention early on due to its vast offering of services. Generally, online to offline (O2O) platforms tend to focus on a single sector and specific types of services, such as food delivery services or ride-hailing services, but Soomgo offers around 1,000 services including interior design, pet training, cleaning, IT, tutoring and sports. 

The company has seen its market share increase rapidly alongside its revenue surging by over 160% compared to the year-earlier period on account of increased demand for home services and contactless cultural activities. 

Earlier in February, Soomgo released an instant quote service that automatically matches users with service providers based on their preferences.

Brave Mobile plans to use the proceeds to increase its market share via strategic marketing. The company also plans to double its employee headcount to further advance its algorithm technology and to stabilize its matching services.

"We're pursuing a horizontal market where a wide range of services are offered on a single platform. Our goal is to help freelancers and small business owners run successful businesses," said Robin Kim, the chief executive of Brave Mobile.

Write to Jong-woo Kim at jongwoo@hankyung.com
Danbee Lee edited this article.