•  Raised 300K of funds from Angel Investor
•  Signed MOU with SEAMEO (Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization) STEM-ED, Thailand Signed MOU with EduPark, Thailand
• Signed MOU with LUXROBO, Korea
•  Accepted to Seoul Global Startup Center 5th Batch 2020-2021
• Accepted to Seoul Startup Hub 2021-2022
• 2nd Place – SGSC Pitching Challenge Competition
• Selected to participate in SGSC Demo Day (Top 10)
• Selected to participate in Podium Star Pitch Competition (Top 5)
• Featured as a Special Project at the SEAMEO Congress 2021 Opening Ceremony (See YouTube video)
• Partnership in motion with a school, three after-school academies, and a publishing company in Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia

From 2020 ~ 2021, we have achieve the following:

• Secured new manufacturing partners
• Partnerships with 55 Brand and 30ml boutiques
• Launched 3 collections of products: Aria, VLLR, SS 2021: Desserto & Sienna
• Sold 200 products
• Sales of 20 million KRW
• Featured in The Korea Times in December 2021
• Interviewed by the EO Youtube Channel, one of the biggest startup channels in Korea
• Accepted into the Accepted into the Global Startups Live Commerce Program, an opportunity to promote and sell our brand and products on NAVER Shopping Live

Leather Manufacturing  When I first began my company, I was utilizing animal leather in our products. As I developed it, I learned leather manufacturing is extremely harmful to the environment. It uses millions of chemicals during the manufacturing process, which eventually pollutes the air, water and soils. It also uses enormous amounts of water and resources. 

Fast Fashion & Construction Waste  There is also a huge amount of waste that is generated and sent to the landfills every day from fast fashion and the construction industry. During my research, I learned that one truck full of clothing is sent to the landfills every second. And construction waste will double by 2025 globally. These statistics blew my mind, I strongly feel that we need to do something about these problems.

Vegan Leather & Plant Based Materials  Our solution to the use of animal leathers is to use vegan leather and leather made from plants such as cactus and pineapple leaves. Both these materials have a low environmental impact and are sustainable. Cactus leather is also biodegradable. And unlike animal leather, vegan leather is a synthetic material made from textiles and therefore is a much more eco-friendly material, it uses much less water and resources during its production. 

Upcycled Materials  In addition to utilizing sustainable materials, we plan to reduce waste that ends up in the landfills. Our solution is to reclaim these materials and repurpose them into our products.

Inspirations  Inspired by architecture & fashion, our products are a blend of rich colors, materials and textures. Just like an interior space that is both a balance of beautiful aesthetics and function. With our products, customers look stylish, organized, and feel good about contributing to a cleaner environment.

Revenue Model & Online / Offline Sales

Secure Domestic Markets

We are currently selling our products in Korea on our Naver Smartstore. We’re also selling on two online and offline boutiques: 55 Brand and 30ml.

Secure Overseas Markets 

Internationally we are selling our products on our KAESA website and Etsy. We plan to expand our sales channels by opening an Amazon Brand Shop.

Go-to-Market Plan: Target Market & Marketing Strategy

We are targeting B2C and B2B markets. 

For our B2C market, we have three types of people:

• Eco-conscious, vegetarian, vegan
• Business professional
• Fashion conscious

We’ve promoted our brand and products using social media such as IG and FB. We’ve held zoom launch parties and several IG Live shows, one of which we partnered with 55 Brand.

We’ve also held Pop-up Events with a made in Seoul shoe brand, KADA:KUDU as well as a few Open Market Events in Seoul. Both events were very successful, we generated new sales and acquired new followers on our social media.

This next year, we have three strategies to market and promote our brand and products:

The first way is to Partner with influencers and celebrities who are interested in sustainability and fashion.

The second is to build our own KAESA community: to connect and share, and to become a trusted resource in the sustainability community. Our goal is to turn customers into brand advocates. We also plan to develop a brand ambassador program.

The third way is to connect with our customers by interacting and communicating with them on our website and our social media. During our product development phase, we plan to ask our members feedback on the product designs and what they desire in a product. This will help us to learn more about our customers and to develop products customers will want and use.

For our B2B market, we are targeting fashion and eco-friendly online sales platforms such as:

W Concept and Unicorngoods.com. Our goals is to be selling on these platforms within the next 6 months.

We also plan to be featured in online magazines such as:

ethicalelephant.com  and livekindly.co

Market Growth & Size

The vegan leather market has been growing steadily and there is more demand for products made from vegan leather globally. It’s estimated to reach 85 Billion USD by 2025. This market is being led by the Americans and Europeans, who have fully embraced products made from vegan leather. The vegan leather market has been growing steadily. 

Competitive Advantage

Our competitors included brands like Find Kapoor and Angela Roi. These brands focus only on aesthetics or being eco-friendly. 

KAESA however blends Design + Function + Sustainability. Our products are stylish, multifunctional, versatile, they can be worn and used in multiple ways. They’re also water resistant, durable, and made with the highest quality materials and craftsmanship. We’re also focused on sustainability. Besides using vegan leathers, we use natural plant based materials and upcycled materials from fashion and construction.

• Fashion ecommerce with a keen focus on marketing
• Grown active users to 20,000 within a year
• Consistent sales of more than USD15,000/ month
•  >20 partner k-fashion brands and growing
• B2C and B2B strategy

Overseas visitors to Korea love to shop due to the stylish and affordable clothing available in Korea. However, it is difficult to source for these items at affordable prices when they return to their home countries. The industry is very fragmented and many k-fashion brands find it difficult to compete with overseas brands. That’s where StyleupK comes in to connect the k-fashion brands and overseas buyers.

StyleupK provides a one-stop solution for affordable k-fashion. Users come to StyleupK to shop and also source for fashion inspiration. At the same time, it takes care of the product management, customer service and also marketing for the fashion brands to make it a seamless entry into the global marketplace. Instead of sourcing different websites for trendy outfits, overseas customers can visit StyleupK and shop for multiple brands at only a one-time shipping fee.

• B2C sales
• B2B sales
• Brand Marketing
• Website advertisement
• Future AI technology for size and inventory management

• Fashion remains a huge industry globally – upwards of $2.5 trillion.
• >90% of overseas visitors to Korea rated shopping as their top 2 activities, regardless of nationalities
• K-fashion global sites remain fragmented and not aimed at overseas customers
• With K-pop becoming more influential, K-fashion will also gain bigger traction in the near future

Next Unicorn Demo Day 2nd place winner (2020)

Chosen for KOCCA Contents Startup League (2020)

Pick for the Peak Top 10 pitching award winner (2020)

Kickstarter : funded in less than 1 day (2020)

Prototype – Testing – Development completed (2020)

1. Learning computer science is one of the most explosive growth areas in education
2. There has a been a movement to unplugged education as parents and researchers began discovering that too much screen time, especially for young kids could have negative effects. The pandemic has only exacerbated the situation as kids have gone to online learning.  Parents and educators we talk to are desperate for products and solutions that can teach children without adding to the already high levels of screen time.
3. There is a lack of easy-to-learn and easy-to-teach materials to help spark computer science interest in kids without resorting to additional screen time or electronic devices

Unicorn Ninjas is a fast paced coding card game that teaches HTML terminology, website design, pattern recognition, arithmetic, and so much more.  It is played by 2 to 4 players, ages 5 and up.  Players use Element cards to build Websites, while bluffing, bugging and debugging their way to victory!

At its core, Unicorn Ninjas is a matching game.  Players assemble various Elements to create Web pages, similar to how you would assemble Legos.  We also introduce HCI or Human Computer Interactions as hints that teaches kids and students how we interact with the elements of a website.

Increased challenges and fun are introduced through additional Bugging and Bluffing game mechanics for more advanced players.  Each game includes an HTML primer and Instructions booklet.

Wcoding is a credible and constantly growing coding bootcamp.

Since 2017, we have held more than 20+ batches of coding courses, received 1000+ inquiries, and 200+ students from all around the world. We also achieved excellent outcomes regarding branding strategies on our SNS pages. Until now, we had 30k clicks on our official website, 1,178 followers on Facebook, and 915 followers on Instagram. Also, we have hosted various free seminars, open classes, and hackathons in four years, attracting more than 200 people to join us in our seminars.

• [2016] Certified as Lifelong Education Institution by the Korean Government
• [2017] Attended ‘Startup Festival 2017’ held by Korea SMEs and Startups
• [2019] Certified as an official ‘Technology Based Venture Company’ by Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KIBO)
• [2020] Selected as a resident in Seoul Global Startup Center
• [2020] Selected as one of the Top 10 Edu-Tech Startups

A common problem that is often mentioned among Enthusiasts in IT and Technology is that they have good ideas but it’s really hard to realize them due to the lack of technical background. Starting from web programming to APP development, the high demand for having software developers is in question. By founding a coding bootcamp, we think the idea will not only help bridge the gap between companies and potential developers but also give a chance to successfully pivot their careers for those who are interested in starting their career in IT but have no access or knowledge to the right path.

To meet different demands from individual students, Wcoding provides diverse programming courses for students to choose from.

First, “Full-Stack Intensive Course.” This is a 12+4 week program, which gives students a comprehensive understanding of the WEB in general, the world of programming, and most importantly getting into the mindset of a true programmer. In the course, they learn both frontend and backend languages (five stacks including HTML, CSS, Javascript, Php, SQL), as well as participate in side projects that require teamwork with other group members (class mates). This has been the most popular course among our students since they can apply what they have learned to practical projects in real life right after they graduate. On top of that, we have built an effective career support system that includes CV revision, mock interviews, real-life simulation of working in an IT startup. For most students with the will to land a job in IT successfully get into IT companies, without too much difficulty, and some also start their own endeavor as an entrepreneur with the tech base that they gained through our program.

Second, “Python Nights.” This is a 16-week program for students who are interested in big data analysis, data visualization, game development, and artificial intelligence.

Third, we offer “special workshops” hosted by experts in IT from time to time to help broaden students’ insights. Our vision is to train potential programmers, match them with jobs, and help companies to launch their products. We also emphasize the value of creating a community among students and programmers, helping them build a network of professional and social support.

Until today, we have had more than 200 graduates from our coding programs and more than 150 alumni who are active in the IT field in and out of Korea, which enabled us to build up a strong global network around the brand Wcoding.

Wcoding has been running its business for more than 4 years in Korea. We have successfully launched 12 batches in our Fullstack intensive class and have alumni of more than 200 students now.

While maintaining the campus business, we hope to upgrade our products/services to increase our sales this year. We plan to strengthen our marketing strategies, including improving SEO, digital marketing analysis, website redesign, digitizing course contents, and branding. Also, we will reach out to more businesses/startups for IT consultation and seek more opportunities in software/web/app projects.

In order to reach the above goals, we have already developed an online learning platform that allows students to browse materials, practice, do quizzes, and keep up their learning pace online. The new service has successfully raised students’ satisfaction rate from the feedback received in the last two batches. Our next step is to launch a new website with new marketing strategies and video content in July.

Wcoding’s main stream of revenue comes from student’s tuition fees. Following the actual price in 2020, tuitions for full-time and part-time programming courses are $ 2,300 per month (120 hours) and $ 450 per month (20 hours). Also, the tuition for small group projects is $ 600 per month. On average, we have 8-12 students per class, per month, and 3~4 classes running simultaneously. Also, outsourcing projects for websites, applications, and software solutions range from $50,000 to $500,000. At Wcoding, we remain focused on building our strengths in reputation in education and community building – However, we do have ambitious yet realistic plans to branch out globally in the future.

The private education industry in Korea is already 20 billion dollars and growing, and according to the department of education, around 30% of this amount is spent on the ‘life long education industry’ (all private education over 18 years of age). In 2020, the global coding bootcamps have received more than 50 million USD investments, and Korean bootcamps have received around 10 million investments. In the US, the coding bootcamp industry in 2019 has grown 11 times bigger than 2013, creating a total of $ 309 million of gross revenue and around 23,043 graduates according to CourseReport. Especially online coding bootcamps are growing faster than in-person, with an estimated 171% growth rate in 2019. Since coding has gradually become an essential skill for future talents and a way to increase the value of oneself, we believe the global market of coding bootcamp will keep thriving.

Our main competitor is Le Wagon, an international and famous franchise bootcamp. They offer web development courses and free workshops in major cities, including Seoul, which they started the branch in 2020. Participants can choose from 9 weeks full-time or 24 weeks part-time, which includes building their own web app.

Wcoding, as a pioneer in the programming education industry, was the first to introduce the concept of an “International programming bootcamp” that combined an IT outsourcing service in Korea. Guided by senior developers, our graduates can get the chance to experience real-life IT working environments and stand out from other candidates. In the meantime, we can match qualified students to inquiring companies, and help them find the right recruiter in a short time. Our exclusive education and IT service have differentiated us from other competitors, as we do more than training, we also truly bridge potential programmers to Korea from all over the world.