Startup entrepreneurs hold a meeting at Samsung Electronics Co.’s Seoul R&D Campus on Aug. 1, 2019, in this photo provided by the Korean tech giant.
SEOUL, Jan. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — Almost half of South Korean startups have chosen North America as their first overseas market and more than half of these companies have set up headquarters overseas, a trade investment promotion agency said Monday.
The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) conducted a survey of 198 startups with one or more South Korean founders, 40.4 percent of which have entered the North American market.
Among the companies with a North American presence, 60 percent set up offices in Silicon Valley.
Others entered markets in China (20.2 percent), Southeast Asia (15.2 percent) and Europe (11.1 percent).
The startups were spread evenly throughout various fields, including the mobile (10.1 percent), artificial intelligence (9.6 percent), lifestyle (7.6 percent) and edutech (7.1 percent) sectors.
Sorted by the type of products and services offered, 62.6 percent developed intangible services, applications and other solutions, followed by hybrid businesses that combine tangible items and intangible services (20.2 percent) and tangible items only (11.1 percent).
As for the reason for tapping into markets overseas, 45.5 percent wanted to increase their presence in the foreign market by offering appropriate services, followed by those that wanted an additional pool of consumers (39 percent).
Half of the startups that have entered markets overseas set up headquarters outside of South Korea as well.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
