IAMCOMPANY, a firm operating a free education information app “IAMSCHOOL,” succeeded in inducing 1.5 billion won (US$1.48 million) from three venture capital firms. (image: IAMCOMPANY)
SEOUL, Aug. 28 (Korea Bizwire) – A Korean start-up venture set up by a university student received a huge amount of capital investment from Silicon Valley venture capitalists.
IAMCOMPANY, a firm operating a free education information app “IAMSCHOOL,” succeeded in inducing 1.5 billion won (US$1.48 million) from three venture capital firms. Its app funnels school announcements and class notices to parents’ smartphones using a format similar to Twitter and Google+. Schools publish text updates and photos and parents register to receive updates from particular schools.
The company was set up by Chung In-mo then-college junior of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in July 2011 with 13 million won of seed capital offered by the Daejeon Metropolitan City. According to the company, the IAMSCHOOL app is being serviced in 8,000 schools in Korea and about 750,000 parents are using the app.
Starting with only four employees, the company has now grown up to employ about 20 people in Pangyo Techno Valley, a tech-hub district in the south of Seoul. Recently, Timothy Draper who is famous for offering capital to Hotmail privately invested $20,000 to the Korean company.
Chung, CEO of the company said, “I am so proud that the world’s best investor recognized the value of our app IAMSCHOOL. By winning recognition from overseas parents, I want to create another Korean Wave of the Korean education app.”
By John Choi (johnchoi@koreabizwire.com)
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