(Courtesy of Getty Images) Mergers and acquisitions of South Korean startups halved in value in 2024 as conglomerates and Big Tech firms such as Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp. snapped the buying spree to shore up their financial health.With the domestic IPO market stumbling, the narrowing exit win
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
Ably Corp. advertising (Photo captured from Ably's website) Chinese online shopping giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has invested 100 billion won ($71.4 million) in South Korea’s top women’s clothing app operator Ably Corp., securing a 5% stake to tap into the nation’s booming
Rebellions Inc., a South Korean artificial intelligence chip design startup, officially merged with Sapeon Korea to form the first domestic AI chip unicorn under the unified name Rebellions.The merger between Rebellions and Sapeon Korea, an AI chip firm backed by telecom giant SK Telecom Co.
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
Screenshot of ChangGoo participants captured from Google Korea Blog Nearly half of South Korean startups hold negative views on the country’s startup ecosystem, citing the prolonged startup funding winter and the economic slowdown, according to Google Korea’s survey of the cou
MarqVision’s new generative AI product Marq AI detects counterfeits (Captured from MarqVision’s website) MarqVision Inc., a startup developing an artificial intelligence-powered intellectual property (IP) protection platform, raised 22 billion won ($16.5 million) to close a Series A
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
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
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
(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
(Courtesy: Gettyimages) As venture capitalists tighten their purse strings amid looming recession fears, only startups with killer products that generate profits are well-placed to survive a big funding freeze, and South Korean startups are no exception.According to Korea’s Ministry of SM