SEOUL, July 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Borrowing money online from total strangers was an unfamiliar concept in South Korea in 2014, when Lee Hyo-jin founded 8percent, a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending service targeting people with low-to-mid credit ratings. A former banker of 8 years, Lee was confident there was huge demand in the loan market that [...]
BUSAN, June 20 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean startup DECANT said Sunday it has succeeded in turning tens of millions of tons of wine-making by-products that were being wasted annually into high value-added beauty products through bio-recycling. The company, located within the Busan Center for Creative Economy & Innovation’s startup incubation space B.Cube, has developed a [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — TOADS, a local tech startup that participated in the region’s software service commercialization support project, received a Ministerial Award in the competition hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency said Wednesday. The company has developed and is preparing to commercialize a virtual [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean bio venture firm Aprogen Pharmaceuticals Inc. was listed as the country’s 11th unicorn, according to an industry tracker on Tuesday. Aprogen was registered as a unicorn company with a valuation of more than US$1 billion by CB Insights, a tech market intelligence platform. In May, Aprgoen attracted [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc. said Friday it recently purchased a stake in U.S. laundry startup Washlava and supplied it with washing machines and dryers. LG Electronics, however, didn’t disclose the level of its interest in the Tampa-based company, which operates smartphone-exclusive laundromats, or the amount invested. The electronics [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — An accelerator for tech startups operated by the country’s largest internet portal operator Naver Inc. said Friday that it has made new investments in three promising startups, as part of its ongoing efforts to support promising entrepreneurs. Naver’s D2 Startup Factory, also known as D2SF, said that it has [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Hyundai Card, South Korea’s leading credit card service provider, has set up a new partnership with global networking company Techstars to help startup businesses here go abroad, the company said Tuesday. “With this partnership, Hyundai Card will offer a support program to enter the global market for the members [...]
SEOUL, May 21 (Korea Bizwire) — POSCO Co., South Korea’s largest steelmaker, said Tuesday it will invest 1 trillion won (US$838 million) to foster startups in the country. POSCO said it will create an industrial complex for startups, as well as a fund to support promising firms in association with the Ministry of SMEs and [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — The total amount of investment in startups reached a record high last year amid hopes of lucrative returns and policy backup, government data showed Thursday. A total of 3.43 trillion won (US$3.04 billion) was invested in startups last year, up 43.9 percent from the previous record high of 2.38 [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Poolus, a new carpool startup, has announced a plan to share its profits with its customers. According to the plan, Poolus will distribute “pool points” to users of its service, which can either be cashed in or exchanged for shares in the company. In addition, AI technology will be [...]