The Hottest Korea Startups of 2014

CCVC LP Report
The Hottest Korea
Startups of 2014
2014 was a huge year for the new wave of Korea startups.
Despite concerns on the venture bubble being on the verge of
bursting, startups in Korea had yet another blockbuster year.
January 15, 2015
Coolidge Corner Investment

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© Coolidge Corner Investment 2015. All rights reserved.
What happened in Korea in 2014?
Coolidge Corner Investment (CCVC) took an end-of-year look at
companies leading the way as valuations get extra frothy, ranking the
hottest Korea startups of 2014 by fastest growing valuation over time
between funding rounds. These aren’t necessarily the most successful or
most hyped startups – but they are the ones that investors are betting the
biggest bucks on for the future.
Korea startup trends
Young entrepreneurs in Korea are founding Asia’s most dynamic startups.
In the past, many young Korean innovators who earned advanced
degrees outside of Korea returned home to pursue careers with
conglomerates such as Samsung, LG, and Hyundai. The recent trend,
however, sees more young entrepreneurs taking risks to start companies
of their own with global ambitions. These entrepreneurs team up with local
talent to march forward to create businesses for the global market. The
2014 Korea startup trends are the following;
 Test-bed solution
Korea stands out in Asia as a key test market for global companies,
including Facebook, Samsung and many more. In that point of view,
Korean startups are getting more attention from Silicon Valley giants
and global investors in order to expand to global markets, especially
Asia markets after finishing the test in Korea.
‒ Yello Mobile, YDEA, Drama&Company, Insedutainment, Woowa
Brothers
 Creative contents
The Korean Wave is a neologism referring to the increase in the
popularity of South Korean culture since the late 90s. Recently,
Korean wave is expanding industry coverage to game, education,
beauty and services with creative contents
‒ KnowRe, Ten Fingers, i-ePUB, MyDol, 4:33 Creative Lab
 Technology-driven
South Korea ranked first in Bloomberg’s Global Innovation Index. In
order to free Silicon Valley investors of their worries, technology-driven

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Korea startups are establishing global presence not only in Silicon
Valley but everywhere around the world with innovative technologies.
‒ Haebora, Y-brain, CLO Virtual Fashion, NFLabs, Noom
15 Hot startups in 2014
Note: Company name / Logo / Categories / Fund raised / Investors; order from above

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1. Yello Mobile
Yello Mobile is a provider of various local mobile-based vertical services
established via acquiring 50+ startups. The company operates in several
different verticals: mobile shopping and advertising, travel service, O2O
(Online-to-Offline) business, as well as mobile content and media. Though
most of its acquisitions are based in Korea, Yello Mobile is looking for
potential business to acquire throughout Asia, except for China which the
company has yet to enter. It plans to hold an initial public offering this year.
 Founders: Sanghyuck Lee
 Founded: August, 2012
 Key Investors: DSC Investment (Seed), Formation 8
2. YDEA (Codibook)

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YDEA's vision is delivering the best shopping experience. The company
operates 'Codibook', an online and mobile shopping platform with
personalized recommendation technology based on analysis of user's
purchasing and preference information. Codibook is the largest fashion
curator system in Korea with 500K+ users. Users can create their own
looks using real images of fashion items and are able to share with other
users. Users can look through individual fashion items as well as fully
styled looks that other user have created to discover new styles that they
would like to try.
 Founders: Haneul Kang
 Founded: July, 2012
 Key Investors: Coolidge Corner Investment (Seed)
3. Drama & Company (Remember)
Drama & Company is a Mobile-based startup offering a cloud-based
business card management application. The company was established in
June 2013. Unlike the previous OCR (Optical Character Recognition)
based business card organization apps, ‘Remember’ transfers hard copy
name cards to soft copies via manual input done by its employees. The
company received a lot of local attention, and was awarded as the ‘Top in
Class’ app at the Korea Mobile App Awards in March 2014.
 Founders: Jaeho Choi
 Founded: June, 2013
 Key Investors: Primer (Seed), Daekyo Investment, Cyber Agent
Ventures, Capstone Partners

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4. Insedutainment
Insedutainment was founded in 2011 with one simple mission: Designing
a more enjoyable study environment for children. The company operates
PBL (Project-Based Learning) using smart devices. Team members are
education experts with extensive experience in teaching and education
research. Through gamified learning, elaborate graphics and pictures,
students engage in customized curriculum personalized to each
individual’s academic progress. The company is anticipated to grow as a
PBL education service leader in Asia
 Founders: Bonghyun Seo
 Founded: December, 2011
5. Woowa Brothers (Baedal Minjok)

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Woowa Brothers, which operates food delivery app Baedal Minjok, allows
users to easily search, order, and pay for food delivery. With a mission to
develop the delivery service industry by integrating brand-new technology,
Woowa Brothers is expected to bring advanced innovation in the delivery
culture not only in Korea but throughout Asia. The recent funding of USD
36 million from Goldman Sachs will be invested on developing the
company’s existing marketing activities, along with the progression of their
planned expansion into markets beyond Korea, initially Japan and South
East Asia.
 Founders: Bongjin Kim (CEO), Hyeonjoon Yoon(CTO)
 Founded: March, 2011
 Key Investors: Bon Angels (Seed), Altos Ventures, Cyber Agent
Ventures, IMM Investment, Goldman Sachs
6. KnowRe
KnowRe is an education technology company with an innovative cloud-
based adaptive learning program for secondary mathematics. KnowRe
algorithmically designs a personalized curriculum for a student by
assessing their strengths and weaknesses. Through its Teacher
Dashboard, KnowRe provides teachers with data on each student’s
progress and highlights where an individual, or the entire class, may be
struggling.
 Founders: Yongjae Kim (CEO), Seojoon Kim (CPO)
 Founded: May, 2012
 Key Investors: Softbank Ventures Korea (Series A), KTB Network,
Partners Investment, Spark Labs Global Ventures

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7. Ten Fingers (Date Pop)
With the Seoul Date POP app, couples no longer have to scour online
daily for new date course or invest time to read customers' feedback for
authentication. TenFingers offers date course curation service for couples
in their 20~30s with well-organized high quality contents created by the
Ten Finger team members themselves. Since the couples app is also
exploring a platform model that will allow it to continue to monetize from
their niche user-base it serves, the potential is bigger than what they have
already achieved.
 Founders: Donghae Shin
 Founded: April, 2014
8. i-ePUB
i-ePub is one of the leaders in the Korean eBook industry. Kim, a serial
entrepreneur, started his venture after realizing that there was a lack of

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players specializing in ebook contents in the market. i-ePUB is dedicated
to developing the electronic book industry globally and is one of the few
companies that are involved in the early stage of book publishing and
planning for contents that are specific to ebooks. i-ePub has established
strong partnerships with other ebook startups such as Bookjam, Moglue,
Publ Studio and Y Factory. Furthermore, i-ePUB works closely with major
book companies in Korea and global ebook platforms including Apple’s
iBook and Amazon Kindle.
 Founders: Cheolbeom Kim
 Founded: October, 2011
9. MyDol
In many countries K-Pop and other Korean cultural contents, such as
dramas and movies are all the rage. MyDol is a new startup in this area
that aims to bring Korean idol to the world through their services. MyDol
operates mobile initial screen service and SNS for enthusiastic Korean
culture fans. These services attracts 7M+ downloads from all over the
world without any paid-marketing.
 Founders: Jinyeol Lee
 Founded: March, 2012
 Key Investors: Bon Angles (Seed), Company K Partners (Seed)

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10. 4:33 Creative Lab
4:33 Creative Lab is a mobile game company, developing, publishing and
operating services for iOS / Android game. 4:33 was created in 2009 by
former members of Entelligent Inc, a game developer that was acquired
by Nexon Mobile in 2005. After a great success with its first product, a
productivity app called ‘Master of Discounts’, 4:33 returned to its roots and
developed mobile-based games. Some of the big hits include, ‘The Secret
of Moreau’s,’ ‘Arrow,’ and ‘EpicHearts’. Recently the company has joined
hands with two of the world’s largest mobile messengers, Tencent and
Line Corp by successfully attracting funds.
 Founders: Kwisung Yang, Taehwan So
 Founded: June, 2009
 Key Investors: LB Investment, Korea Investment Partners, Tencent,
Line Corporation
11. Haebora (ALLO)
Haebora is developing a wearable ear-microphone called 'ALLO Ear Talk'.
The innovative communication technology utilizes sounds that are

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generated from the ear instead of the mouth. Application of the technology
is diverse, from personal smart phone to the military. The technology
enables clear communication, even in environments with loud background
noise. Users can communicate clearly, even at a rock concert or in a noisy
factory.
12. YBrain
YBrain is a brain signal based wearable device company building mobile
health and wellness solution platform for the healthy and impaired. YBrain
has built wearable devices for alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment
patients and is currently carrying out clinical trials. The company is
currently building mobile big data platform with brain signals detected from
YBrain’s own devices for more targeted and personalized treatments and
services and is carrying out clinical trials with Samsung Medical Center in
Korea.
 Founders: Kyungsik Yoon
 Founded: February, 2013
 Key Investors: Stonebridge Capital, DSC Investment, Solborn
Investment (Seed)
13. CLO Virtual Fashion

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CLO Virtual Fashion specialized in cutting-edge technology that allows
“True-to-life” portrayal of garments in 3D. Leveraging its 3D simulation
technology, CLO3D is the No.1 3D fashion design software used by
leading fashion / apparel companies to visualize 3D garment design
before production. ‘Marvelous Designer’ is a computer graphics design
software used by world renowned animation / gaming studios of over
100 different companies in more than 20 countries for productions
including “Frozen” by Disney, “Hobbit” and etc.
 Founders: Junghyuck Boo
 Founded: February, 2013
 Key Investors: KDB Capital (Series A), Mirae Asset Venture
Investment (Series A), Stonebridge Capital, Atinum Investment
14. NFLabs
NFLabs has entered the market with a mission to simplify the way data is
processed and analyzed today. The company consists of a group of
entrepreneurs, developers and technologists whom came together with a
goal of making innovation simpler. With big data simplifying technology,
the company helps customers work with big data more effectively and
efficiently. There has been a perception in the past that Asian startups are
only good at copying existing technology. In fact, even Korea’s top
manufacture, Samsung, has drawn scorn for allegedly imitating Apple,
rather than innovating. But companies like NFLabs are beginning to
debunk such misconception. Another example is 5Rocks, a Korean

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software technology company that was recently acquired by TapJoy in the
US.
 Founders: Sejun Na
 Founded: September, 2011
 Key Investors: Coolidge Corner Investment (Series A), Bon Angels
(Series A), Big Basin Capital (Series A)
15. Noom
Noom is a developer of healthcare applications that offers exercise tips /
coaching and nutrition information. Noom provides services that are
personalized to suit each individual’s needs, making weight loss easy and
achievable. The product portfolio includes Noom Walk 24/7 Pedometer,
Noom Weight Loss Coach, and CardioTrainer. Their core product, the
Noom Weight Loss Coach, is a digital weight loss coach in your pocket.
The Coach gives you simple, daily tasks that will help you create positive
lifestyle changes for long-term weight loss. Noom was established in 2007
and has offices in New York, Seoul, Berlin, and Tokyo.
 Founders: Saeju Jeoung, Artem Petakov
 Founded: September, 2007
 Key Investors: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (Seed),
Qualcomm Ventures, M8 Capital, Habor Pacific Capital, RRE
Ventures, New York Digital Health Accelerator, Translink Capital

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Where will Korea startup growth come from?
Five millennia of history and culture, rapid economic development and
democratization in the last 60 years, this is Korea – a country that has
seized and flourished upon opportunities and now offers investor
opportunities to grow and succeed together. Here are several reasons
why Korea has an attractive startup environment as global test-bed
market;
1. World best IT Infrastructure
 Highest smartphone penetration rate
‒ According to the research conducted by Google, ‘Our mobile
planet’ project, South Korea ranked 2nd in smartphone
penetration rate at 73 percent, following UAE at 73.8 percent
 World largest LTE Users
‒ South Korea ranked first in terms of 4G LTE service penetration,
in which 62 percent (30.3 million) of the people were estimated
to be using 4G LTE mobile services
 Most prevalent and fastest broadband service
‒ The country has the highest broadband penetration in the world
at 97 percent and is a leader in broadband speed with an
average peak connection of close to 50 megabits per second

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2. Demographic characteristics highly conducive to startups
 4th
largest urban areas in the world – Potential for rapid service
expansion
‒ Dense population – 50% of the population live in Seoul; spread/
adoption of new tech is rapid and comparatively cheap
 The fastest aging population – Prospects for future demands
‒ Koreans aged 65 and above accounted for 12.2% of the total
population, amounting to 50 million, indicating one of the fastest
aging population among OECD countries
‒ As one of the fastest aging population, Korea fosters an ideal
start up ecosystem where startups can take advantage of the
new demographic
3. Rich in competent human resources
 Highest college graduation rate among OECD countries
‒ Every year, approximately 470K college graduates join the labor
market. In 2013, Korea’s college entrance rate was 72.5%,
marking the highest among OECD member countries.
‒ Continuous supply of high-quality human resources is to
enhance competitiveness of startups and help with constant
innovation.
 The labor productivity index is steadily on the rise, doubled in the
past 10 years

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2014 Venture Capital Activity of Korea
1. Fundraising: Rapid growth, but room for more
In 2014 the total fundraising of $2+ billion was more than twice the volume
of 2012. This increase was driven by the government, which represented
over 30% of the total fundraising affected by the “Creative Economy”
policy, South Korean president Park’s policy to increase the amount in
startup funding. However, with comparison to the size of the Korean
economy, Korea has a relatively lower VC fund size compared to the US
and Israel.
2. Investment: Setting records, and shifting to Early-stage
With new customer behaviors, technology and regulations sparking more
innovation, Korean startups raised nearly $1.4 billion in 2014 – largest
over the past 5 years.

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Early stage investments were the largest (32%) in 5years and the Series
C stage investments were the majority of venture capital activity (45%) as
the average fund size increased.
3. Divestments: Exit environment still challenging
Once successful portfolio companies mature, venture funds generally exit
their positions in the companies by taking the company public through an
initial public offering (IPO) or by selling them to presumably larger
organizations (acquisition, “M&A”, or trade sale).
The majority of divestment activities are repayment of principal loans and
over-the counter sale (56%). 2nd
prominent exit route is IPO (22%)
whereas M&A cases are quite rare (0.9%).

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Coolidge Corner Investment (CCVC) is a leading micro venture capital in
Korea, committed to helping early stage startups achieve immediate impact
and growing advantage on their most world-changing issues.
Coolidge Corner Investment (CCVC)
911-913 Hanshin Intervalley East Bldg. 707-24,
Yeoksam-Dong, Gangnam-Gu, Seoul, Korea
Phone : +82-2-2183-2170
Fax : +82-2-2183-2750
Email: ccvc1@ccvc.co.kr
Homepage: www.ccvc.co.kr
For more information, permission to reprint or translate this work, and all
other correspondence, please email: hyjang@ccvc.co.kr
© 2014, Coolidge Corner Investment (CCVC), all rights reserved: This document is exclusively intended
for selected client employees. Distribution, quotations and duplications – even in the form of extracts –
for third parties iss only permitted upon prior written consent of CCVC

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