KoreaTechDesk | Korean Startup and Technology News

Thu, August 07, 2025

Sign in

Virtual Demo Day
Menu
  • Home
  • Startup News
    • AI & Big Data
    • AR & VR
    • Blockchain
    • Clean Technology
    • Content & Games
    • Cybersecurity
    • Enterprise & SaaS
    • FinTech
    • Gadgets & Electronics
    • Health & Bio
    • Manufacturing
    • Press Release
    • IoT
    • Marketplaces & E-commerce
    • Robotics
    • Transportation
    • Investments
    • Ecosystem & Lists
  • Governments
    • Artificial Intelligence Industry Cluster Agency
    • Daegu Technopark
    • GANGNAM-GU
    • Gyeonggido Business & Science Accelerator
    • Hwaseong Industry Promotion Agency
    • Invest Seoul
    • Korea Creative Content Agency
    • Korea Internet & Security Agency
    • Korea Information Security Industry Association
    • Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development
    • Korea Tourism Organization
    • Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency
    • Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
    • Ministry of SMEs & Startups
    • National IT Industry Promotion Agency
    • Pangyo Techno Valley
    • Seoul Business Agency
    • Seoul FinTech Lab
    • South Gyeongsang Province
    • Seoul Metropolitan Government
  • Events
    • COMEUP
    • Korea Fintech Week
    • K-Content Expo
    • NextRise
    • Try Everything
  • Interviews
    • Investors’ interviews
    • Founders’ interviews
  • Programs
    • Asan Voyager
    • CAPA Global Program
    • Campus Town Program
    • SGSC Global Bootcamp
    • Gangnam-gu Global Roadshow
    • Global SaaS Marketplace Support Project
    • LAUNCHPAD
    • COMEUP STARS 120
    • K-Startup Grand Challenge
    • TIPS X beSUCCESS Global Project
    • SFL Global Program
    • KTO Global Showcase
    • Yonsei Univ Global Class
    • KOSME Global Program
  • Partner With Us
    • Press Release
    • Startup Scouting
    • Business Agencies
    • Global Mentorship Program
    • Investment Opportunities
    • K-Scouter Program
  • Lists
  • Virtual Demo Day
  • Home
  • Startup News
    • AI & Big Data
    • AR & VR
    • Blockchain
    • Clean Technology
    • Content & Games
    • Cybersecurity
    • Enterprise & SaaS
    • FinTech
    • Gadgets & Electronics
    • Health & Bio
    • Manufacturing
    • Press Release
    • IoT
    • Marketplaces & E-commerce
    • Robotics
    • Transportation
    • Investments
    • Ecosystem & Lists
  • Governments
    • Artificial Intelligence Industry Cluster Agency
    • Daegu Technopark
    • GANGNAM-GU
    • Gyeonggido Business & Science Accelerator
    • Hwaseong Industry Promotion Agency
    • Invest Seoul
    • Korea Creative Content Agency
    • Korea Internet & Security Agency
    • Korea Information Security Industry Association
    • Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development
    • Korea Tourism Organization
    • Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency
    • Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
    • Ministry of SMEs & Startups
    • National IT Industry Promotion Agency
    • Pangyo Techno Valley
    • Seoul Business Agency
    • Seoul FinTech Lab
    • South Gyeongsang Province
    • Seoul Metropolitan Government
  • Events
    • COMEUP
    • Korea Fintech Week
    • K-Content Expo
    • NextRise
    • Try Everything
  • Interviews
    • Investors’ interviews
    • Founders’ interviews
  • Programs
    • Asan Voyager
    • CAPA Global Program
    • Campus Town Program
    • SGSC Global Bootcamp
    • Gangnam-gu Global Roadshow
    • Global SaaS Marketplace Support Project
    • LAUNCHPAD
    • COMEUP STARS 120
    • K-Startup Grand Challenge
    • TIPS X beSUCCESS Global Project
    • SFL Global Program
    • KTO Global Showcase
    • Yonsei Univ Global Class
    • KOSME Global Program
  • Partner With Us
    • Press Release
    • Startup Scouting
    • Business Agencies
    • Global Mentorship Program
    • Investment Opportunities
    • K-Scouter Program
  • Lists
  • Virtual Demo Day
Home Startup Content & Games

Top 5 K-Content Korean startups looking to hit the ‘unicorn’ status

by KoreaTechDesk Writer
September 21, 2020
in Content & Games, Ecosystem & Lists
4
K-Content startups are entertaining audiences & reaching 'unicorn' heights.

K-Content startups are entertaining audiences & reaching 'unicorn' heights.

1
SHARES
46
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Although 2020 has been a brutal year in many respects, it has been a big year for the Korean startup ecosystem. Aprogen pharmaceuticals became the 11th unicorn startup company in South Korea according to CB insights. The latest addition to unicorn companies has placed Korea in sixth place behind Germany and 11 unicorn companies.

For a privately owned startup to qualify as a unicorn company, they need to have a valuation of over $1 billion and have a valuation of over $10 billion to be eligible as a “decacorn” company. Given the rising number of unicorn companies supported by Korea’s robust mobile infrastructure, government support, and venture boom, Korea could have 20 unicorn companies by 2022 and even one “decacorn” company.

Koreatechdesk.com has compiled a list of 5 Korean startups or K-content startups looking to join the billionaires club based on their market valuation, scalability, funding, and product innovation.

1) Smart Study
Smart Study is a Korean EdTech startup best known for its educational hit Pinkfong and baby shark song, which has over 4.6 billion views on YouTube. The company has become successful in Korea and in the United States, where they plan to go public this year. Since its inception in 2010, the startup has produced dozens of educational videos featuring characters in different languages.

Smart Study’s Pinkfong and baby shark story.

The startup prioritizes the consumer’s ease of accessing its content with its educational videos being made available through their mobile app or on YouTube. However, the startup’s success isn’t limited to YouTube and its mobile app; its hit song took over the Washington Nationals home in the 2019 Major League Baseball season and at the World series. The startup’s sales have similarly soared from $ 40 billion in 2018 to $ 60 billion last year.

Smart Study plans to be the Pixar of South Korea by launching an animated TV series of their Pinkfong characters. Also, the startup plans to launch its movie version of their hit song ‘Baby Shark’ in 2020. The company’s majority shareholder is Kim Min-Seok, who owns 23% of the company; his family owns 63% of the company, while Samsung Publishing owns 21%.

2) Radish
Radish is a serialized mobile storytelling platform where one can support their favorite author, and the authors earn a commission. Radish has been described as the equivalent of addictive TV shows due to their bite-sized instalments of stories offered in an episodic method, much like TV series.

Radish describes its mobile app as an update of the Victorian ideal of the serialized novel. From the app, readers can access multiple novel categories such as fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, romance, etc. The authors write an episode and get instant feedback before writing the next piece, thus ensuring the content satisfies their readers and encourages the writers to write better content.

Radish – the storytelling platform.

Customers access episodes through buying coins, and then the company divides its sales with the episode’s author. The app has over 7,000 stories and 1000 authors, with the highest-paid author earning $15,000 per month.

The Radish app has enjoyed astounding success in Japan and China but now seeks to expand to Europe and the USA. In 2019 it announced the launch of Radish Originals in the USA and had hired 6 of television’s most celebrated Emmy Award-winning soap opera writers to write for the platform. Radish has strong backing from Silicon Valley investors that include Greylock, Lowercase, Softbank, UTA, Bertelsmann, and Sherpa Capital. It’s also supported by individual investors such as Amy Tan, ITV Chairman Sir Peter Bazalgette; Charlie Songhurst, who was the former head of corporate strategy at Microsoft; and billionaire investor Nicolas Berggruen. The company aims to build an iconic multimedia presence and change how we write and read stories.

3) HyperConnect
HyperConnect’s bid to join the unicorn club comes as no surprise. The Korean based startup has been successful from its inception in 2014 with the startup seeking to connect the world through its WebRTC, a real-time video communication technology. The startup was founded by Sang-il Ahn, Kang-Sik Jung, and Hyun-tek Yong. The company enjoys massive support from the Silicon Valley, with Alto and SoftBank Ventures contributing the majority of its $8.6 million Series B funding.

According to Han Kim, the CEO of Alto Ventures, the startup shows excellent potential in connecting people in real-time. In just five years, the startup has grown to over 30 times its expected size and has recorded massive sales increases of 71.4% each year.

The startup’s premier product Azar aims to connect people in real-time using their shared interest for unique chatting experiences beyond the confines of nationality, religion, and social class. It has over 300 million downloads, 80 billion matches, and is available in over 130 nations. It ranked 4th in Europe’s 2019 top revenue earning app after YouTube, Netflix, and Tinder. HyperConnect intends to add more features to its Azar app and create new products to connect people from all corners of the world. Its sales stood at $91 million last year from $62 million, with its net-profits jumping to $14 million.

4) Tapas
Tapas debuted in 2013 as a Korean Webcomic company and has grown to have over 3 million active users and a library of 82 000 webcomic stories. Much like Radish, the startup distributes its comics in bite-sized episodes formatted for vertical scrolling by smartphone users.

Tapas offers a wide range of comic story genres ranging from sci-fi and fantasy to romance and mystery. It has prose novels and stories but seeks to expand to more lucrative areas such as video games and printed books. The company’s CEO, Chang Kim, describes the startup as YouTube for Comics, with the company having over four billion-episode views in 2019. The startup aims to empower creators and serve its young readers with 3-5-minute chunks of entertaining content each day.

“One of the things we provide is editorial support. There are a lot of talented young creators emerging from our community with great ideas. We can help them develop those into stories, help them with technical issues, and provide them with new opportunities.” Said Chang Kim, CEO of Tapas to media.
Creators post on the site for free and split the sales from their story views with the company. Tapas creators earn a monthly stipend of as much as $21,000 in exchange for Tapas having a 50% stake in their IP ownership.

5) Mykoon
Mykoon is the creator of Spoon Radio, a real-time radio broadcast service that allows its users to share stories, ideas, favorite music, and more on the app. The service will enable people to truly connect and share their thoughts and ideas with others every day, real-life issues like relationships and money.

https://youtu.be/z3JXb_aIa9U

Users can listen to their personalized content and or create their broadcast. The company was valued at $727 million last year, but with the increased use of its products, it should reach unicorn status this year.

Also Read on Koreatechdesk.com:

  • Top 3 Korean startups that have achieved the ‘Unicorn’ status
  • KOCCA conducts “K-Content Startup In Japan” successfully
  • Fan Following rise for Spoon Radio as it gets over 10 million downloads
  • Coronavirus Lockdown: Things to do when indoors with the help of Korean startups
Tags: Content startupsHyperconnectK-ContentKorean StartupsRadishSmartStudyTapasUnicorn startups
Previous Post

Korean startup ROKIT HEALTHCARE revolutionizing organ regeneration with 4D Bioprinting

Next Post

TIPS X beSUCCESS Korean Startup Showcase; Day One: 11 startups pitch and exchange ideas with a panel of top-tier investors & corporate strategists

Next Post
Korean startup Seeso pitching at the TIPS X beSUCCESS Korean Startup Showcase

TIPS X beSUCCESS Korean Startup Showcase; Day One: 11 startups pitch and exchange ideas with a panel of top-tier investors & corporate strategists

Please login to join discussion

POPULAR POSTS

NEXVERS Secures Series A to Scale TopReels, Korea’s F...
South Korea is advancing its next wave…
by Zee Cindy . 30 Jul 2025

GPTKiller’s Muhayu: First in AI Hiring Tech to Achiev...
Another innovative Korean startup has made history. Muhayu, the company behind AI-powered plagiarism detection service CopyKiller and GPTKiller, is now…
by Chloe kim . 30 Jul 2025

Korean Startup Medipal Enters Vietnam’s $2.5B Digital...
Korean healthtech startup Medipal has entered into a strategic partnership with H+ Yangji Hospital to expand its patient care SaaS…
by Chloe kim . 30 Jul 2025

Strategic EdTech Startup Alliance: Sajagaonda and MEA E...
Korean EdTech startups Sajagaonda and MEA have joined forces in a strategic alliance to reshape student career planning and personalized…
by Zee Cindy . 30 Jul 2025

Mobidoo’s Sauce Powers South Korea’s Rise i...
As the global e-commerce landscape continues to shift toward video-first experiences, South Korean startup Mobidoo Co., Ltd., widely recognized by…
by Aditi Dave . 2 Aug 2025

Register for Event

MOST READ ARTICLE OF THE WEEK

1.
South Korea’s Ministry of SMEs and Startups Unveils $2.23 Billion Support Plan for Startups in 2025
3 Jan 2025
2.
South Korea Shines at CES 2025: Global Innovation Champion, Record-Breaking K-Startup Pavilion, Award-Winning Innovations
10 Jan 2025
3.
South Korea Opens Applications for the 10th K-Startup Grand Challenge 2025 – Korea’s Flagship Market-Entry Program Offering ₩950M (US$633K) in Government Support 
7 May 2025
4.
K-Startup Grand Challenge : Empowering Global Startups and Driving Innovation in South Korea
28 Apr 2025
5.
AI in South Korea: Startups Leading the Generative AI Revolution
1 Apr 2025

List Article

1.
6 Reasons Why Seoul Is Poised to Become a Top 5 Global Economic Hub by 2030
20 Aug 2024
2.
Top Co-working Spaces for Startups & Companies to Explore in South Korea
3 Apr 2024
3.
Top Accelerators in South Korea Shaping Startup Success
29 Nov 2023
4.
Top Korean Venture Capital Firms Backing Startup Success
26 Oct 2023
5.
Top Apps for Seamless Korean to English Translation
14 Aug 2023

Similar Articles

Content & Games

NEXVERS Secures Series A to Scale TopReels, Korea’s First Short-Form Drama Platform

More
Content Apex NYC
Content & GamesEvents

Bridging Innovation Across Oceans: Korea’s Top Entertainment Tech Firms Head to NYC for Content Apex 2025

More
Speak
Content & GamesStartup

Speak Easy Labs Korea Becomes Unicorn with $78M Series C Investment

More

Topics

Menu
  • AI & Big Data
  • AR & VR
  • Blockchain
  • Clean Technology
  • Content & Games
  • Cybersecurity
  • Enterprise & SaaS
  • FinTech
  • Gadgets & Electronics
  • Health & Bio
  • IoT

Program

Menu
  • Asan Voyager
  • CAPA Global Program
  • SGSC Global Bootcamp
  • LAUNCHPAD
  • COMEUP STARS 120
  • K-Startup Grand Challenge
  • TIPS X beSUCCESS Global Project
  • SFL Global Program
  • KTO Global Showcase
  • Yonsei Univ Global Class
  • KOSME Global Program

About

Menu
  • About Us
  • all articles
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy
  • Cookie-policy
  • twitter

Subscribe and be informed first hand about actual Korean startup news.

All the day’s headlines and highlights, direct to you every morning.

Contact us : [email protected]

Topics

Menu
  • AI & Big Data
  • AR & VR
  • Blockchain
  • Clean Technology
  • Content & Games
  • Cybersecurity
  • Enterprise & SaaS
  • FinTech
  • Gadgets & Electronics
  • Health & Bio
  • IoT

Program

Menu
  • Asan Voyager
  • CAPA Global Program
  • SGSC Global Bootcamp
  • LAUNCHPAD
  • COMEUP STARS 120
  • K-Startup Grand Challenge
  • TIPS X beSUCCESS Global Project
  • SFL Global Program
  • KTO Global Showcase
  • Yonsei Univ Global Class
  • KOSME Global Program

About

Menu
  • About Us
  • all articles
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy
  • Cookie-policy
  • twitter

Subscribe and be informed first hand about actual Korean startup news.

All the day’s headlines and highlights, direct to you every morning.

© 2023 Koreantech News & Media Korea Zrt. All rights reserved.

Our Spring Sale Has Started

You can see how this popup was set up in our step-by-step guide: https://wppopupmaker.com/guides/auto-opening-announcement-popups/

Our Spring Sale Has Started

You can see how this popup was set up in our step-by-step guide: https://wppopupmaker.com/guides/auto-opening-announcement-popups/

We hope you enjoy our content, May you please give us Feedback regarding our website!

Single Post Feedback

dgdfgfdgdf

What you think about Koreatechdesk, Share your idea with us!

feedback popup

Invitation submission has been closed

Insert/edit link

Enter the destination URL

Or link to existing content

    No search term specified. Showing recent items. Search or use up and down arrow keys to select an item.