Maru SF to open in Silicon Valley in November as Korean startup gateway
Maru SF, a startup campus and networking hub operated by the Asan Nanum Foundation, will open in Silicon Valley this November, marking the organizat...
With waning MZ interest, is heyday over for S.Korea’s golf apparel market?
South Korea’s once-dominant golf apparel market, the largest in the world at its peak, is rapidly losing steam, as sales tumble and brands scr...
Korea’s game studios rebrand as AI tech firms, move into fashion, robotics, media
What was once a world of elves, dragons and power-ups is now giving rise to one of South Korea’s most unexpected tech revolutions, with game s...
K-style strikes back to win over China’s Gen Z with Musinsa at helm
Musinsa, South Korea’s fashion unicorn backed by KKR Co., is set to bring the K-style wave to China with Anta Sports Products Ltd., China's le...
Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman courts Korean AI startups as Riyadh, Abu Dhabi vie to build tech hubs
Back in the 1960s and 1970s, the Middle East was a land of opportunity for many South Korean construction workers, who labored there under the scorc...
From G-Dragon to Ibuki: Dongmyo emerges as global fashion hotspot
Once a humble thrift market popular among older locals in Seoul, Dongmyo Market, often dubbed Dongmyo flea market, has become a vibrant hotspot for ...
Even barcodes copied: Counterfeits invasion threatens K-brands
Counterfeit Korean beauty, fashion and food products are surging on overseas e-commerce platforms, with lookalike packaging making them hard to dist...
Google to invest $100 mn in Gentle Monster in smart glasses push
Google LLC has signed an agreement to invest about 145.0 billion won ($100 million) in Gentle Monster, the South Korean fashion eyewear brand that i...
LG CNS forms strategic partnership with robotics startup Skild AI
LG CNS Co., the information technology service arm of LG Group, said on Tuesday it has formed a strategic partnership with Skild AI to develop AI-dr...
South Korea’s startup M&A winter deepens capital bottleneck
South Korea’s startup M&A winter has deepened as once major investors like conglomerates are prioritizing restructuring over expansion, ch...
Korea's science ministry picks 10 AI, digital startups to back global growth
South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT on Thursday announced that it has selected 10 startups founded by Koreans in a program to support th...
Soon for sale: Altos Ventures-backed Cafe Knotted operator
Silicon Valley-based Altos Ventures-backed Good Food For Good (GFFG), operator of South Korea’s popular dessert cafe, Cafe Knotted, will likel...
NCSOFT invests in US game startup emptyvessel
NCSOFT Corp. has made an equity investment in emptyvessel, a US indie games studio, as part of efforts to expand into the first-person shooter genre...
Packaging rides K-beauty wave: Shares of cosmetics container makers soar
As South Korea’s independent beauty brands continue to take the global stage by storm, investors are now looking beyond the creams and serums ...
S.Korea’s Krafton to nurture 6 new game studios in India
Krafton Inc., the publisher of global mega-hit “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” (PUBG), has selected six new Indian game studios to...
KT rolls out Thai-tailored large language model
South Korean telecom service provider KT Corp. has built a large language model (LLM) platform tailored for the Thai market in collaboration with Ja...
EQT set to invest in KKR-backed fashion unicorn Musinsa
EQT, Europe's largest private equity firm, is set to invest 20 billion to 30 billion won ($14 million-$21 million) in Musinsa, South Korea’s f...
Korea launches $27 mn fund to invest in K-beauty startups
South Korea’s Ministry of SMEs and Startups on Thursday announced the launch of a 40 billion won ($27 million) fund to invest in Korean beauty...
Luxury fashion platform Balaan files for court receivership amid slump
South Korea’s top luxury goods e-commerce platform Balaan Co. said on Monday it has filed for corporate rehabilitation with a Seoul court as t...
LF to open Korea’s 1st standalone fashion outlet in India
LF Corp., a leading South Korean clothing company, will foray into India with its flagship brand Hazzys to build its presence in the rapidly growing...
Koreans’ craving for luxury goods fades
Until recently, it was not unusual to see people waiting in a long line in front of foreign haute couture brands’ stores early in the morning ...
South Korean VCs back US humanoid robot developer Apptronik
South Korean venture capital firms invested undisclosed tens of billions of won, equivalent to tens of millions of dollars, in US humanoid-developin...
Krafton invests in 10 overseas game startups in 2024
Krafton Inc. invested in 10 overseas game developers in 2024 in search of the next big franchise intellectual property (IP) following its mega-hit t...
Korea’s beauty wholesaler to invest $10 mn in fashion platform Balaan
South Korea’s cosmetics wholesaler Silicon2 Co. is set to invest $10 million in financially troubled luxury fashion e-commerce platform operat...
Hyundai Motor spins off 4 in-house startups in energy, AI, mobility
South Korea’s auto behemoth Hyundai Motor Group has spun off its four in-house startups with innovative technologies in mobility, automation a...
South Korea loses tech startups at rapid clip amid dwindling funding
Concerns are growing that the tech startup ecosystem in South Korea, home to global tech household name Samsung Electronics Co., would be trapped in...
LG Electronics deepens ties with US startup Apex.AI
LG Electronics Inc. has invested in Apex.AI, a US-based startup developing safety-certified software designed to accelerate the transition of softwa...
Meta in talks to acquire Korean fabless chip startup FuriosaAI: Forbes
Meta Platforms Inc., the parent of Facebook and Instagram, is in talks to acquire Seoul-based AI chip startup FurisosaAI Inc. and the discussion cou...
Funding to Korean tech startups at 7-year low; seed funding soars
New funding to South Korean tech startups dropped to its lowest level in seven years in 2024. But seed funding soared 142% led by semiconductor, hea...
AI agent Gentoo poised to revolutionize online shopping
South Korean artificial intelligence startup Waddle Corp. is gearing up to reshape the online retail industry with artificial intelligence-powered i...
