Jan 7, 2025

startuprecipe Search for: sign up for Startup Recipe newsletter Email * Access to the latest Korean startup news and startup database for free #Weekly Funding Overview Company Series A STYLE C INTAKE KDAC Slab Asia Series B Envisioning Partners, SKSPE, Korea Development Bank, TBT Partners, Hyundai Motors, Hana Financial Investment, K & Investment Partners, UTC Investment, NICE Investment Partners Creatrip Series B NICE Investment Partners, Altos Ventures, Shinhan Venture Investment, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Nau IB Capital, SJ Investment Partners Tessa Payhere Spacewavy Charco Neurotech Seed Amadeus Capital Partners, Parkwalk Advisors, Mint Venture Partners, University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners, Crista Gali Ventures Codmos Cloa ISA Technologies nomnomnom Pluglink BIG3 Series B Daekyo Investment, IBK Capital, IMM Investment, Maple Investment Partners, MAGNA Investment, NICE Investment Partners, Korea Investment Partners, Shinhan Venture Investment, Woori Bank, Yuanta Investment Fertilerains Danagreen raonark Stoic Entertainment Lenif Major Funding Huinno, which develops AI-based medical devices, raised 43.5 billion won. It aims for the largest market share in Korea and then going global. Agricultural company Greenlabs attracted strategic investment from SK Square. It plans to expand ESG management and target overseas markets, focusing on China and other Asian countries. Digital logistics startup LogiSpot attracted a strategic investment of 30 billion won. It will expand the value chain in the logistics industry and advance the platform to strengthen customer service. HONT, the operator of the restaurant platform Monthly Kitchen, secured investment. It will upgrade digital solutions that can be applied to the entire food service industry. Autonomous driving startup RideFlux raised 16.5 billion won. It will expand the service area and type, aiming to provide autonomous driving services in major cities nationwide by 2024. S.Lab Asia secured a 15 billion won investment with cold chain containers transporting medicines and food. It plans to secure talent with investment and strengthen solution competitiveness. #Trend Analysis Investment picked up in December. More than 1 trillion won flooded into startups. In 2021, Korean startups are predicted to raise more than 13 trillion won in investment, more than tripling from 2020. Due to the government’s active support, increased interest in Korean startups from global VCs, and the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, a record-breaking amount of investment was concentrated on startups in 2021. In December, the last month of 2021, both the amount of investment and the number of investments increased significantly compared to the previous month. As if making up for all the stagnant investment performance over the past few months, monthly fundings exceeded 1 trillion won and recorded 1.4282 trillion won. The number of monthly investments reached 172, the largest number this year. Kurly secured the most funds, attracting 250 billion won. Ahead of the IPO in 2022, it received a large amount of investment from private equity funds in Hong Kong and was valued at 4 trillion won. Investment increased at all levels as monthly investment performance returned to more than 1 trillion won. 34 companies raised more than 10 billion won, 7 companies raised more than 50 billion won, and 3 companies raised more than 100 billion won in a mega-round investment. In addition to the amount of investment, the number of investments also climbed dramatically in December due to the increase in seed and pre-series A level startups. Proportionally, the number of investments before the Series A phase accounted for 40% of the total. With 23 female-founded companies successfully raising funds in December, it was the month with the most female-founded enterprises attracting investment. Kurly raised a total of 485.4 billion won this year, with an additional 250 billion won raised ahead of its pre-IPO next year, drawing the greatest investment as a female-led startup in 2021. In addition, a live commerce platform Grip Company raised 180 billion won from Kakao. It will cooperate to strengthen Kakao’s commerce capabilities. It seems that startups with abundant funds acquire similar or heterogeneous startups as a strategy for market preoccupation and expansion. Car-sharing platform Socar acquired Modu Company, an online parking platform, and Nine2one, a shared electric bicycle operator, in order to improve its competitiveness in the mobility industry. Yanolja acquired AI ad-tech business Dable in order to create synergy with Yanolja Cloud. TOP 15