Kakao buys startup Grip, fueling e-commerce push

Kakao buys startup Grip, fueling e-commerce push

South Korea's Kakao Corp. has acquired a live streaming e-commerce app Grip Co. to beef up its online shopping business, considered the weakest spot...

Homegrown VCs turn to Korean American startups in search of unicorns

Homegrown VCs turn to Korean American startups in search of unicorns

Korean venture capital firms are ramping up their investments in Korean American-owned startups in the United States, mostly in Silicon Valley.The aim...

Hanwha Solutions invests $100 mn in US energy startup Lancium

Hanwha Solutions invests $100 mn in US energy startup Lancium

South Korea’s Hanwha Solutions Corp. has invested in a US data center energy management startup as part of its new business model to embrace t...

Korea’s Toss operator invests $5 mn in US startup fintech platform Republic

Korea’s Toss operator invests $5 mn in US startup fintech platform Republic

Viva Republica Inc., a leading South Korean fintech unicorn and operator of mobile financial super app Toss, is investing $5 million in Republic, a ...

Sustainable packaging firm SUPASO wins grant, office space via D.DAY event

Sustainable packaging firm SUPASO wins grant, office space via D.DAY event

D.CAMP, Korea’s non-profit foundation focused on helping young entrepreneurs, has joined forces with SK ecoplant Co., Ltd. to find promising...

Music copyright trading platform Musicow revitalizes Korea’s startup scene

Music copyright trading platform Musicow revitalizes Korea’s startup scene

“Music becomes Cashcow” is the slogan for Korea’s hottest startup of the year, Musicow, Inc., and cash cow it has been. Indus...

KDB opens VC in US to aid Korean startups' US entry

KDB opens VC in US to aid Korean startups' US entry

South Korea’s state-run bank Korea Development Bank (KDB) launched its venture capital (VC) operations in California's Silicon Valley on Nov...

Medical 3D tech startup Anymedi eyes 2022 Kosdaq IPO

Medical 3D tech startup Anymedi eyes 2022 Kosdaq IPO

Anymedi Solution Co., South Korea's medical metaverse startup, has applied for a preliminary review of its initial public offering on the junior Kos...

Home interior app seeks new funding at over $ 1 bn valuation

Home interior app seeks new funding at over $ 1 bn valuation

South Korea's Bucketplace Co., an operator of the country's largest home interior platform, is seeking to raise about 100 billion won ($85 million) ...

Data Republic creates AI-based crypto investment solution

Data Republic creates AI-based crypto investment solution

South Korean startup Data Republic is pioneering a smart way of investing for global cryptocurrency investors. Founded in 2018, the company has ra...

Travel startups draw new funds amid digital transformation

Travel startups draw new funds amid digital transformation

As South Korea loosened social distancing measures for a gradual return to normal life this week, investors are rekindling their interest in travel ...

LG Energy Solution to supply batteries to US fuel cell truck maker Nikola

LG Energy Solution to supply batteries to US fuel cell truck maker Nikola

LG Energy Solution Ltd., a leading South Korean battery maker, has signed a deal to supply batteries to Nikola Corp., a US hydrogen fuel cell electr...

US startup SES unveils game-changing lithium-metal battery

US startup SES unveils game-changing lithium-metal battery

SES Holdings Pte. Ltd., one of the world’s top solid-state battery makers, unveiled a hybrid lithium-metal rechargeable battery with better pe...

AI human developer MINDs Lab aims for November IPO

AI human developer MINDs Lab aims for November IPO

South Korea’s top artificial intelligence (AI) developer MINDs Lab Inc. is aiming to list on the Kosdaq market within this month. While the ...

Korea MCN startup Treasure Hunter aims for leading K-content maker

Korea MCN startup Treasure Hunter aims for leading K-content maker

Song Jae-yong, a leader of the new business taskforce team at South Korea’s CJ ENM Co. went to New York in 2013 to have business meetings for ...

Korean eyewear startup to again design China's top dept store hall

Korean eyewear startup to again design China's top dept store hall

South Korean eyewear brand Gentle Monster is slated to design the luxury hall space of the Chengdu branch of SKP, China’s top department sto...

SKC to invest $33 mn in British battery materials startup Nexeon

SKC to invest $33 mn in British battery materials startup Nexeon

South Korea’s SKC Co. is set to invest $33 million in Nexeon Ltd., a British battery materials maker, for the silicon anode materials business...

Korea autonomous driving startup 42dot valued at $434 mn

Korea autonomous driving startup 42dot valued at $434 mn

South Korea’s autonomous driving startup 42dot drew strong interest from investors with its advanced artificial intelligence technology. Strat...

Hyundai, Kia invest in US solid-state battery startup Factorial

Hyundai, Kia invest in US solid-state battery startup Factorial

Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. invested in US solid-state battery startup Factorial Energy in a move to secure various technologies for the next-ge...

Naver, Mirae Asset ramp up investment in India’s promising startups

Naver, Mirae Asset ramp up investment in India’s promising startups

South Korea’s top online platform operator Naver Corp. and brokerage giant Mirae Asset Securities Co. are aggressively investing in promi...

AgTech attracts global billionaires’ investment

AgTech attracts global billionaires’ investment

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Softbank Group founder Masayoshi Son have recently shown a common interest in a surpr...

K-pop copyright trading platform Musicow prepares for IPO

K-pop copyright trading platform Musicow prepares for IPO

Musicow Inc., South Korea's first music copyright trading platform, has embarked on the process to go public on the back of its eye-catching growth ...

DearU: A K-pop fan engagement platform success story

DearU: A K-pop fan engagement platform success story

No company would know better than DearU Inc. that powerful fandom can turn into fast money.The South Korean startup that started as a software devel...

Naver's metaverse platform seeks over $40 mn in funding

Naver's metaverse platform seeks over $40 mn in funding

Naver Z Corp., the operator of South Korea's metaverse platform Zepeto, is in the early stages of talks with investors to raise more than 50 billion...

Portrai to revolutionize biopsy quality through AI technology

Portrai to revolutionize biopsy quality through AI technology

Biopsy is one of the most used methods to examine a person’s illness, taking a tissue sample of a patient for analysis. Usually, the samples a...

Korea’s NFTBank to launch NFT funds this year

Korea’s NFTBank to launch NFT funds this year

The global market of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), blockchain-based tokens, which each represent a unique asset such as a piece of art, digital conten...

Capstone Partners: Korea's 'guardian angel' for early-stage startups

Capstone Partners: Korea's 'guardian angel' for early-stage startups

In 2018, a South Korean food startup GoPizza Co. was on the brink of shutting down. Lim Jae-won, GoPizza's founder, had launched the business with a...

Korea property startup Kasa to launch exchange in Singapore

Korea property startup Kasa to launch exchange in Singapore

Kasa Korea Co., a property investment platform, is set to expand its services to help global users invest in real estate in the world by obtaining l...

Korean startup FuriosaAI's Warboy overtakes Nvidia

Korean startup FuriosaAI's Warboy overtakes Nvidia

South Korea-based artificial intelligence semiconductor startup FuriosaAI Inc.'s silicon chip has delivered higher performance than the US-based chi...

Cosmetics startup Birdview readies for 2022 listing

Cosmetics startup Birdview readies for 2022 listing

South Korea-based Birdview, the operator of leading cosmetics platform Hwahae, is aiming to make a trading debut as early as the first half of nex...

S.Korea’s leading ERP player Douzone Bizon up for sale; EQT Partners in talks MSCI maintains S.Korea’s emerging-market status; level playing field required GEPS taps former KB Asset chief risk officer as new CIO Affinity Equity nets $220 mn from block sale of Shinhan Financial F&F’s bid for TaylorMade complicates Centroid's exit