Kakao Revives Jeju Village as 19 Shops Rally Around Sehwa-ri
A Jeju local company, Kakao Family, is reviving Sehwa-ri village through its cacao brand Cocoha, with 19 shops joining a funding campaign.
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Startup Founder News
Startup ecosystem, venture capital, and entrepreneurship news. Covers funding rounds, new ventures, tech innovation, and the Korean startup landscape.
AI Patrol Robot Guards Deoksugung, Spots Fire From 3 Meters in Under 5 Seconds
Neubility's AI patrol robot "Sunra-bot" began a fire-detection demonstration at Deoksugung Palace, spotting heat from 3 meters and alerting in under 5…
Same Ingredient, Different Raw Materials: K-Beauty Competes on Ingredient Quality
Beauty-tech startup Witten Company is competing on raw material quality in Korea's ingredient-focused cosmetics market, gathering over 60,000 reviews.
Anthropic Eyes $2 Trillion IPO to Top SpaceX Record
Anthropic plans a $2 trillion IPO this month, aiming to surpass SpaceX's record fundraising on the back of surging enterprise revenue.
North Chungcheong to Build 707 Billion Won Startup Hub
North Chungcheong Province will invest 707.2 billion won by 2030 to build a "second Pangyo Valley" startup ecosystem in Osong.
Korea's H1 Venture Investment Jumps 54% as AI, Bio Draw Capital
Korea's new venture investment hit a record 8.9 trillion won in the first half of 2026, up 54.3%, led by AI, chips and bio.
Upstage, SKT and LG Advance in Korea's Homegrown AI Contest
Upstage, SK Telecom and LG advanced in Korea's homegrown AI foundation model contest, where real-world usability decided the winners.
"Taming Seafood Prices": AI Predicts Rates and Flags Supply Anomalies
A Korean startup uses AI to forecast opaque seafood prices, while smaller firms target niche smart glasses markets and a report warns Korea lacks optical…
DeepSeek Raises API Prices Up to 12-Fold as China's AI Race Turns to Profit
DeepSeek raised API fees up to 12-fold as China's AI firms shift from ultra-low pricing to profit, while SK's Chey Tae-won warned of the worst memory…
Anthropic IPO May Top SpaceX With $2 Trillion Valuation
Some Anthropic investors expect a valuation above $2 trillion at its October IPO, topping SpaceX, as annualized revenue is projected to reach $100…
AI-Powered Fortune-Telling Apps Surge, Reaching 1 Billion Won in Monthly Sales
AI-powered fortune-telling apps are booming in Korea, with one developer's monthly sales reaching 1 billion won, while Kurly posts record Q2 profit and…
KINTEX Opens Its Halls to AI, Robotics Startups for Live Trials
KINTEX has begun on-site trials with three AI and robotics startups, testing fire detection, booth-marking robots and edge-AI safety tools at its real…
K-Fashion Wins Over Japan as Musinsa Sales Jump 182%
K-fashion platforms are surging in Japan, with Musinsa's Global Store sales up 182% year-on-year in the second quarter as brands push into offline stores…
Taste-Matched Travel Rises: Platform Jigu Playground Wins Over Younger Koreans
Travel platform Jigu Playground draws Koreans in their 20s and 30s with themed trips built from taste data, as a business group backs 100 startups and…
Korea Shifts Local Commerce Strategy: Nurturing Anchor Firms Over Subsidies
Korea shifts local commerce policy from subsidies to nurturing anchor firms like Sungsimdang and Terarosa, aiming for 10,000 local entrepreneurs and 1,000 local companies annually by 2030.
Kakao's First AI Play Is Food Delivery, Teaming Up with Coupang Eats
Kakao picks food delivery as its first AI vertical, partnering with Coupang Eats to bring ordering to KakaoTalk, while Meta joins the AI coding race and Google reorganizes DeepMind.
Pablo Air Targets Defense, Aviation Markets with Drone Swarm Technology
Pablo Air, holding Korea's only drone swarm control technology, is expanding into defense and aircraft inspection markets and plans another IPO attempt after raising 112.5 billion won.
Korean Self-Driving Vehicles Land First UAE Export Deal Worth 11 Billion Won
Autonomous a2z signed an 11 billion won deal to export 19 self-driving vehicles to UAE's Space42, replacing Chinese-made vehicles in the TXAI autonomous service.
US Bans Chinese Robot Imports, Boosting K-Humanoid Prospects
The US FCC banned imports of Chinese humanoid and quadruped robots, boosting Korean component makers Halla Cast, SL, and Samhyun as they enter the global robot market.
AI Now Runs the Factory: 'Autonomous Plants' Shake Up Manufacturing
INEEJI expands AI autonomous factory operations with 11.67 million tons of process data, while home appliance, furniture, and K-beauty firms grow service and distribution businesses.
LG Releases Korea's Largest AI Model 'K-EXAONE 2.0' as Open Source
LG AI Research released K-EXAONE 2.0, Korea's largest AI foundation model with 750 billion parameters, on Hugging Face, outperforming China's leading models in long-text comprehension.
Upstage, Wrtn Back Small Business AI Transformation as Adoption Spreads
Upstage and Wrtn back small business AI transformation, Cloudflare Workers tops 5.5 million developers, and Samsung Electronics invests 800 billion won in DS and DX startups.
Prediction Is the Key in the Renewable Energy Era, AI Cuts the Error
Korean VPP startups cut renewable energy forecasting errors to 3–5% using AI, while Shinhan invests 20 billion won in German defense unicorn Quantum Systems and K-beauty surges in Europe.
KT, Amorepacific Launch AI Research Assistant, Cutting 12-Day Task to 5 Minutes
KT and Amorepacific built a specialized generative AI 'Lemon,' cutting research and regulatory review tasks from 12 days to five minutes, as corporate AI adoption spreads rapidly.
China's Moonshot AI Opens Top Model, Squaring Off Against OpenAI and Anthropic
Chinese startup Moonshot AI opens Kimi K3 model weights, sparking a U.S. open-weight debate, while Naver forms a $10 billion AI infrastructure alliance with Nvidia and Brookfield.
Content Investment Grows, So Do Disputes—IP Contract 'Blind Spots' Exposed
Legal disputes over content investment, distribution rights, and IP are spreading in Korea as standard contracts fail to reflect complex business structures, while SKT, KB Kookmin, and KT expand AI and fintech.
Nvidia Partners with KAIST, Seoul National University to Nurture AI Talent
Nvidia is establishing joint AI research labs with KAIST and Seoul National University to nurture engineering talent, while AMD nears a final HBM4 contract with Samsung Electronics.
Incheon's Proven Special R&D Zone to Get 20 Billion Won Boost
Incheon's Seohae Geomdan Special R&D Zone will receive 20 billion won over five years after exceeding first-phase targets, spinning off 36 research firms and 75 startups.
Valuation Quadruples in Six Months: AI Fuels Chip Startup Boom
AIO reached a 1.2 trillion won valuation, quadrupling in six months on NAND controller demand, as Korea's AI chip startups draw investment and prepare IPOs.
Samsung Launches RX Business Division, Bets Big on Physical AI
Samsung Electronics establishes 'RX Business Division' to lead physical AI, while LG Energy Solution restarts its U.S. battery plant and Lotte Department Store launches K-fashion platform Next Lab.
K-Startups Win Over Sequoia, Grow Presence in Silicon Valley
Top U.S. VCs including Mayfield and Sequoia are backing Korean-founded deep tech startups, as Silicon Valley-born K-startups like Moloco return funds to Korea for hiring and R&D.
Artificial General Intelligence Era Nears; Global VC Says Korea Holds the Opportunity
500 Global CEO Christine Tsai says AGI and ASI are the next tech wave, with Korea positioned as a top beneficiary thanks to its semiconductor and software strengths.
Hancom With Woos Japanese Startups, Showcases Security Technology
Hancom With demonstrated AI-based security solutions to 16 Japanese startup executives, showcasing its technology as it targets Japan's financial and public sectors for overseas expansion.
Premium Living Goods Sell Out Despite High Prices in Korea
Premium living goods are selling out in Korea despite high prices, as consumers prioritize design and brand. GS Shop's kaya dishcloths drew 160 million won in orders.
Banksalad Develops Alternative Credit Scoring Model Using Spending Data
Banksalad developed 'Banksalad Score,' an alternative credit scoring model with Sogang University that predicts credit risk from spending data, analyzing 200,000 card records.
Samsung, Celltrion Bet Big on $12.7 Billion Keytruda SC Market
Samsung Bioepis secures in-house SC formulation technology, joining Celltrion in targeting the $12.7 billion Keytruda SC biosimilar market ahead of the drug's patent expiry.
Sendbird Unveils 'AI Employee' Handling Refunds and Reservations
Sendbird unveiled 'AI Agent Steward,' an AI service handling refunds and reservations. Musinsa expands into southern China, and Seoul's Ttaenggyeoyo posts 81.9 billion won in first-half sales.
Global M&A and IPO Volume Hits 10-Year High at $3.2 Trillion
Global M&A, IPO, and private fundraising hit $3.2 trillion in the first half of 2025, up 45% year-on-year and a 10-year high, driven by mega-deals of $10 billion or more.
Firms Ditch Costly AI, Switch to Cheaper Chinese Models
The LLM token spending index fell 22% in a month as companies switch from costly frontier AI models to low-cost Chinese alternatives like DeepSeek and Zhipu AI.
LG, Samsung Adopt AI That Controls 1,000 Robots at Once
Daim Research develops proprietary AI controlling over 1,000 robots for unmanned factories, adopted by LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI, while Korean voice AI startups race into the B2B market.
Woori Financial Bets 470 Billion Won on Startups, Citing "Potential"
Woori Financial Group is expanding venture capital with a continuous investment framework from startup founding to IPO, with cumulative group investment reaching 470 billion won across 231 startups.
Chinese AI Investors Visit Korea to Forge 'Physical AI Alliance'
Hong Kong-based Spark Physical AI Ventures visited Korea to explore a physical AI alliance, while domestic venture firms topped 40,000 again and K-SURE backed K-culture with $125 million.
Naver Advances AI Search, Cutting Hallucinations and Doubling Speed
Naver applied three next-generation technologies to its AI search, cutting hallucinations by 30 percentage points and doubling response speed while lowering costs to one-third.
Meta Picks Samsung's 2nm Process, Foundry Orders to Hit 50 Trillion Won
Meta has chosen Samsung Foundry's 2nm process for its MTIA AI accelerator, driving Samsung's foundry order backlog toward 50 trillion won, as big tech firms including Anthropic adopt Samsung ASICs.
Middle East Reopens: Venture Exports, Nuclear Projects Resume
Following the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, Korean ventures resume Middle East exports of drones, nuclear services, and AI. Hancom's AI revenue share jumps to 11.52%.
US Lifts Anthropic AI Export Controls After 18 Days
The US lifted export controls on Anthropic's Mythos5 and Fable5 AI models after 18 days, while CJ CheilJedang restructured into three divisions and Shinhan Financial saved 652.3 billion won via digital transformation.
Korea and Japan Go All-In on AI Robots, Launching 100 Trillion Won Investment Race
Korea and Japan unveiled national robot strategies in June to catch up with China, with Japan planning 10.5 trillion yen (100 trillion won) in public-private investment by 2040.
AI Boom Strains Even Google, Which Turns Down Meta's Request
Google told Meta it cannot meet "Gemini" capacity demand, with an unfulfilled backlog of $460 billion, as Korea unveils a 20 trillion won Manufacturing AI 2030 Strategy and Kakao's labor dispute drags on.
Government Excludes RSU from Tax Benefits in Final Decision
Korea's government excluded RSU tax benefits from this year's tax law amendment, blocking the talent-retention tool's spread at startups despite a KDI recommendation for tax support.
Strong Tech, Weak Funding: The Painful Reality of Korean Ventures
Korea's venture lending is just one-750th of America's, leaving a severe scale-up funding gap, while LG Electronics formalizes a Physical AI alliance with Nvidia and China's robot firms top 1 million.