Coupang, the Amazon of Korea was founded in 2010 and has raised $2 billion in funds from SoftBank’s Vision Fund. The food delivery platform Woowa Brothers became an unicorn startup with investments worth $ 320 million from Hillhouse Capital, US-based Sequoia Capital and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. Woowa Brothers’ latest valuation has touched $4 billion. Just a few days back, FinTech startup Viva Republica with its premium product Toss received $173 million in funding at a valuation of $2.6 Billion.
Coupang, Woowa Brothers and Toss, all three companies have something more in common than their billion dollar+ valuation status, they were part of beSUCCESS’s startup conference beGLOBAL in 2013. beSUCCESS, the tech startup media hosted one of the biggest startup conferences called beGLOBAL. The conference was organized with the mission to showcase promising startups from South Korea. beSUCCESS’s expertise in Korea’s startup community, international media, and investor network, has given promising enterprises a platform to get access to become a unicorn.
South Korea’s leading startup media company beSUCCESS and South Korean government-backed incubator TIPS (Tech Incubator Program for startup Korea) will be hosting the 3rd edition of “TIPS X beSUCCESS Korean Startup Showcase” on September 23-24,2020. The highly successful first 2 editions of the startup showcase were held in San Francisco and Palo Alto.
The 3rd edition will be completely online allowing investors from anywhere in the world to interact with 11 funded Korean startups with cutting edge innovations. The startups have been chosen keeping in mind the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and preparing for the post-COVID world.
The event is a platform to showcase promising funded South Korean startups, enabling investors to learn more about the innovative startups and build a funding pipeline in South Korea.
To apply to attend the showcase, click here.
Program alumni who have gone on to raise funding:
Startups who have participated in the first 2 editions, have gone to raise funding from leading investors and corporates:
Nota, an on-device AI solution startup, has raised $6.7M (8 billion KRW) in series A investment round in August 2020, by investors SBV(Pre-series A investor), LB investment, Samsung SDS (utilizing Samsung Venture Investment Corporation fund) and LG CNS as a strategic investor. With this raise, the firm has raised $8.4M(10 billion KRW) in total.
Bitsensing, a South Korean radar technology startup, has raised $5.8 million in a Pre-Series A round of funding in June 2020. This round was led by LB Investment, leading venture capital in South Korea, and Mando Corporation, a South Korean global Tier 1 automotive supplier, participated as a strategic investor. Hansae, SB Partners, also participated with Future Play and SJ Investment Partners from a previous round.
The Edutech startup Riiid has secured a $41.8 million pre-Series D funding round in July 2020. The funding round was led by state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), NVESTOR, Intervest, as well as from an existing investor IMM Investment, bringing Riiid’s total funding to date to $70.2 million.
“TIPS X beSUCCESS Korean Startup Showcase” is a FREE, invite-only event for active and accredited investors and strategic partners to view live pitches of promising Korean tech startups before they graduate the official TIPS program.
Attendees will get a first look at the startups’ live pitches, meet the founders, and network with other top-tier investors and corporate strategists. This showcase will also set aside time during the event for one-on-one meetings between investors and startups. This way the investor can be guaranteed face-time with the companies they are interested in and get all their questions answered.
Schedule:
- 23rd September 2020 08:00-09:30 KST (16:00 PDT, 07:00 SGT) : 11 startups online live pitching for US based investors
- 23rd September 2020 15:00-16:30 KST (14:00 SGT, 23:00 PDT) : 11 startups online live pitching for Asia based investors
- 24th September 2020 08:00-09:30 KST (16:00 PDT, 07:00 SGT) : 11 startups online live pitching for US based investors
- 24th September 2020 15:00-16:30 KST (14:00 SGT, 23:00 PDT) : 11 startups online live pitching for Asia based investors
To apply to attend the showcase, click here.
Below are the 11 startups that have been shortlisted among hundreds of startups, for detailed profiles of the participating startups, click here.
Startup Year Founded Description Funding raised Investors
Medihub Co., Ltd. 2017 i-JECT was created through joint research and development with medical device R&BD platform at Seoul National University Dental Hospital, of which ergonomic design and the state of the art patented technology will help you with painless anesthesia procedures. USD 0.1 Mil - Huons - Actner Lab - Infobank - Woolsan Univ.etc. (Doctors)
LOKKS307 Co., Ltd. 2019 DoseEase is a cost-effective data solution that collects, manages and monitors clinical trial data & subject compliance in real time. Accumulated and verified data on DoseEase is stored on blockchain to prevent any type of data loss, tampering, or corruption, thus providing highly credible data. USD 0.8 Mil - Seoul Techno Holdings Inc. - Korea Credit Guarantee Fund
Selectstar, Inc. 2018 SelectStar is a crowdsourcing platform for AI training data collection/annotation. A large number of crowd workers can sign up for the mobile app Cash Mission to do data work and receive rewards. AI companies can acquire data collection pools with diversity and large amounts of data quickly and accurately via outsourcing. USD 3.6 Mil - Kakao Ventures - Kolon Investment - Company K Partners
Creative Value Technology 2015 CVT was established in 2015 under the mission to make life more simple and secure through face recognition technology. CVT consists of embedded access control/camera/chip design experts with an average of more than 20 years of experience and has been growing steadily through collaboration and various support from major corporations. USD 0.8 Mil - Lotte Accelerator - IBK - Plan H Ventures - Zero1 Accelerator - Posco
AIET Co.,LTD. 2018 Developed Iris Algorithm and Iris, Object, Facial recognition Modules and RDKs. Currently, developing DOS(Distant Object Screening type) Iris and Facial Recognition Technology and Access control device with exclusive technology of Aiet that sets the capture volume space; DOS zone (1 cubic meter), and automatically recognizes the shape and the iris in the face. USD 0.1 Mil Commax venturus
EVAR Corporation 2018 EVAR’s vision is to "Innovate EV charging infrastructure and contribute to eco-friendly." Currently, EVAR produces two types of mobile EV charger (EVAR Auto and EVAR cart). EVAR carts can charge EV with fast charging mode (upto 150kw/h). Also, they've invented new types of EV charger (Fixed Type) to cover all parking areas with small electricity. USD 1.8 Mil - Samsung Ventures - Naver D2SF - ETRI Holdings - Schumidt
M2S Co.,LTD 2017 M2S has accumulated experience in VR content development and technologies. M2S has dedicated last +2 years in developing solution that effectively leverages VR technologies,delivering the maximum benefits to the industry, using VR HMD(head-mounted display) and eye tracking sensor’s biodata accurate inspection result. Through HMD, the inspection contents can be shown. USD 1.8 Mil * KODIT (Korea Credit Guarantee fund) * Enlight Ventures
Oncocross 2015 Service is based on the two AI platforms: ONCO AI - is an AI platform to screen optimal indications for drug compound in preclinical or clinical stages and to find the most suitable combination drugs to develop Incrementally Modified Drug (IMD) or orphan drugs, using proprietary human transcriptomic data (RNA expression), disease data, and drug data. ONCOfind AI - is an AI platform to screen and identify the most suitable biomarker for anti-cancer drug compound candidates using proprietary standardized human transcriptomic data of multiple races and various phenotype information of cancer. USD 19.37 Mil Smilegate, KDB Capital, KB Securities, GN Tech, Hanbit Investment, Wooshin Investment, eBEST securities, ID Ventures, Vision Creator, Magna Investment
GeniRobot Co., LTD 2019 Genibot is an 'All-in-One' educational robot for coding, STEAM and Artificial Intelligence education. The digitalization of education provides equal opportunities for learning to both non-disabled students and students with disabilities, ultimately contributing to the upward leveling of education and using robots to prevent senior dementia, replacing senior care personnel, reducing costs, and life of the family. USD 0.12 Mil Angel (Private) i-Built
Network Defines, Inc. 2018 SENDIA is an asynchronous video communication tool for collaboration. By using SENDIA, a user can record his screen with his camera simultaneously without additional editing. With the underlying technologies, SENDIA users can share their video as soon as finishing recording. USD 0.5 Mil SpringCamp
seeso 2016 We gather professionals who are keen to start a new project by running RUFREE community, which helps people to work off-site more effectively. We provide a new type of outsourcing service by using a project collaborative management solution that helps our clients efficiently manage and utilize professional resources outside companies. Seeso breaks the traditional way of matching professionals of existing outsourcing marketplaces and has been developing a professional matching solution by utilizing data from projects along with the project collaborative management solution for seamless completion of projects. USD 0.17 Mil - Mashup Angels - sopoong - Jeju CCEI
| Startup | Year Founded | Description | Funding raised | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medihub Co., Ltd. | 2017 | i-JECT was created through joint research and development with medical device R&BD platform at Seoul National University Dental Hospital, of which ergonomic design and the state of the art patented technology will help you with painless anesthesia procedures. | USD 0.1 Mil | - Huons - Actner Lab - Infobank - Woolsan Univ.etc. (Doctors) |
| LOKKS307 Co., Ltd. | 2019 | DoseEase is a cost-effective data solution that collects, manages and monitors clinical trial data & subject compliance in real time. Accumulated and verified data on DoseEase is stored on blockchain to prevent any type of data loss, tampering, or corruption, thus providing highly credible data. | USD 0.8 Mil | - Seoul Techno Holdings Inc. - Korea Credit Guarantee Fund |
| Selectstar, Inc. | 2018 | SelectStar is a crowdsourcing platform for AI training data collection/annotation. A large number of crowd workers can sign up for the mobile app Cash Mission to do data work and receive rewards. AI companies can acquire data collection pools with diversity and large amounts of data quickly and accurately via outsourcing. | USD 3.6 Mil | - Kakao Ventures - Kolon Investment - Company K Partners |
| Creative Value Technology | 2015 | CVT was established in 2015 under the mission to make life more simple and secure through face recognition technology. CVT consists of embedded access control/camera/chip design experts with an average of more than 20 years of experience and has been growing steadily through collaboration and various support from major corporations. | USD 0.8 Mil | - Lotte Accelerator - IBK - Plan H Ventures - Zero1 Accelerator - Posco |
| AIET Co.,LTD. | 2018 | Developed Iris Algorithm and Iris, Object, Facial recognition Modules and RDKs. Currently, developing DOS(Distant Object Screening type) Iris and Facial Recognition Technology and Access control device with exclusive technology of Aiet that sets the capture volume space; DOS zone (1 cubic meter), and automatically recognizes the shape and the iris in the face. | USD 0.1 Mil | Commax venturus |
| EVAR Corporation | 2018 | EVAR’s vision is to "Innovate EV charging infrastructure and contribute to eco-friendly." Currently, EVAR produces two types of mobile EV charger (EVAR Auto and EVAR cart). EVAR carts can charge EV with fast charging mode (upto 150kw/h). Also, they've invented new types of EV charger (Fixed Type) to cover all parking areas with small electricity. | USD 1.8 Mil | - Samsung Ventures - Naver D2SF - ETRI Holdings - Schumidt |
| M2S Co.,LTD | 2017 | M2S has accumulated experience in VR content development and technologies. M2S has dedicated last +2 years in developing solution that effectively leverages VR technologies,delivering the maximum benefits to the industry, using VR HMD(head-mounted display) and eye tracking sensor’s biodata accurate inspection result. Through HMD, the inspection contents can be shown. | USD 1.8 Mil | * KODIT (Korea Credit Guarantee fund) * Enlight Ventures |
| Oncocross | 2015 | Service is based on the two AI platforms: ONCO AI - is an AI platform to screen optimal indications for drug compound in preclinical or clinical stages and to find the most suitable combination drugs to develop Incrementally Modified Drug (IMD) or orphan drugs, using proprietary human transcriptomic data (RNA expression), disease data, and drug data. ONCOfind AI - is an AI platform to screen and identify the most suitable biomarker for anti-cancer drug compound candidates using proprietary standardized human transcriptomic data of multiple races and various phenotype information of cancer. | USD 19.37 Mil | Smilegate, KDB Capital, KB Securities, GN Tech, Hanbit Investment, Wooshin Investment, eBEST securities, ID Ventures, Vision Creator, Magna Investment |
| GeniRobot Co., LTD | 2019 | Genibot is an 'All-in-One' educational robot for coding, STEAM and Artificial Intelligence education. The digitalization of education provides equal opportunities for learning to both non-disabled students and students with disabilities, ultimately contributing to the upward leveling of education and using robots to prevent senior dementia, replacing senior care personnel, reducing costs, and life of the family. | USD 0.12 Mil | Angel (Private) i-Built |
| Network Defines, Inc. | 2018 | SENDIA is an asynchronous video communication tool for collaboration. By using SENDIA, a user can record his screen with his camera simultaneously without additional editing. With the underlying technologies, SENDIA users can share their video as soon as finishing recording. | USD 0.5 Mil | SpringCamp |
| seeso | 2016 | We gather professionals who are keen to start a new project by running RUFREE community, which helps people to work off-site more effectively. We provide a new type of outsourcing service by using a project collaborative management solution that helps our clients efficiently manage and utilize professional resources outside companies. Seeso breaks the traditional way of matching professionals of existing outsourcing marketplaces and has been developing a professional matching solution by utilizing data from projects along with the project collaborative management solution for seamless completion of projects. | USD 0.17 Mil | - Mashup Angels - sopoong - Jeju CCEI |
