40 percent of the startups spent between one and two years to establish. (Image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Almost half of the South Korean startups that ending up going global actually have origins in overseas countries, under the goal of targeting the global market, a state-run trade promotion agency said Thursday.
As a result of a survey of the nation’s 135 startups that have been active in foreign markets, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) found that 37 percent were founded originally in overseas countries without establishing parent companies in South Korea.
By region, 48.1 percent of the startups made forays into the North American market, 80 percent of which are located in Silicon Valley. Following North America were Asia (34.1 percent) and Europe (11.1 percent).
By business area, 11.1 percent of the startups are specialized in mobile technology, followed by AI at 9.6 percent, big data at 9.6 percent, and gaming at 8.9 percent.
By business item, an overwhelming share of the startups (72.6 percent) selected intangible services or applications.
The survey also showed that 40 percent of the startups spent between one and two years to establish, while the share of the start-ups that spent less than one year or more than three years to be established stood at 7.4 percent each.
If classifying the start-ups by the amount of attracted investment capital, series A (about 1 billion won, US$860,000) companies accounted for the largest share at 26.7 percent.
By revenue, 17.8 percent of the startups turned out to have annual revenue of more than US$1 million.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
