PEN Ventures founder and CEO Song Myoungsoo (right, at podium) gives a welcoming speech at the PEN Ventures CIS event in Seoul For startup accelerators that nurture promising young entrepreneurs, identifying a soon-to-be-unicorn, or a company valued at over $1 billion, in its infancy and watc
The companies founded by South Korean nationals abroad will be recognized as domestic companies if they contribute to the Korean economy, making it easier for them to receive venture capital investment. The South Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said it will implement revised guidelines, in
RideFlux self-driving car (Courtesy of RideFlux) RideFlux Inc., a South Korean autonomous driving technology startup, raised 26 billion won ($1.9 million) in a Series B funding round about four months since being the first to operate a driverless car at normal speed in the country after winning
South Korea's online giant Naver Corp.'s startup nurturing organization D2SF (D2 Startup Factory) said on Friday it started to discover and invest in North American startups by engaging with local investors and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.Naver D2SF plans to support North American startups
(Courtesy of Asan Nanum Foundation) The Asan Nanum Foundation announced on Wednesday that it will hold a demo day for “The Chung Ju-yung Startup Competition” on Nov. 7 at COEX Auditorium in Seoul.The event, now in its 13th year, is a debut stage for various startups that will inheri
A humanoid robot provides information to a visitor at a technology event in Seoul on June 19, 2024 (File photo by Yonhap) South Korea’s artificial intelligence and robotics startups raised more money through seed rounds than other sectors in August although investors continued to tighten
Venture Summer Forum's annual conference, held in Seoul on August 20, 2024 (Courtesy of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups) In South Korea, those who struck it rich from property investments are the subject of envy, but startup founders who make big money from their exits have become the target
PIP Labs CEO and Story Protocol co-founder SY Lee Seung Yoon Lee, a South Korean startup creator, was in his early 20s when he co-founded Radish Fiction Inc., a US-based mobile fiction platform, in 2016.Now in his early 30s – still regarded as young in Korea’s Confucian society &nda
Cardboard boxes of an online shopping concept (Courtesy of Getty Images) South Korean e-commerce companies have seen a sharp decline in series A funding over the past three years amid intensifying competition with Chinese rivals such as AliExpress and Temu, which are rapidly increasing their pr
Vessl AI CEO An Jaeman poses for a photo in front of Vessl AI's office in Seoul, South Korea (Courtesy of Vessl AI) Vessl AI, a South Korea-native MLOps platform-operating startup, is envisioning a takeoff in the US next year after building a concrete client base at home in the four years since
Oh Young-joo, minister of SMEs and Startups, speaks during a media briefing on July 25 South Korea will establish startup hubs in Seoul and Busan, the country’s largest port city, by the first half of 2026 to build Asia’s No. 1 startup ecosystem, said Oh Young-joo, the minister of S
The Asan Nanum Foundation announced on Wednesday that it opened a merchandise pop-up store in South Korea's startup for Maru Collect until August 25. Maru Collect is a combined word for Maru, an entrepreneurship platform operated by the Asan Nanum Foundation, and "Collect," meaning to gat
(Courtesy of Getty Images) The drought in venture capital funding worsened in South Korea in the first half of this year, taking an especially heavy toll on platform and bio startups but manufacturing and content companies with profitable business models are expected to revitalize the VC ma