Rancho's Korea Startup Story

Though our two previous posts delineated the challenges that women entrepreneurs and regional startups face, there are cases when they went against all odds and came out on top. In this post, we’ll take a look at some of those stories.??

Success Stories of Women Entrepreneurs and Regional Startups in Korea?

• 8PERCENT: Founded by Hyo Jin Lee, 8PERCENT is an online crowd funding platform that provides a service that directly connects borrowers and investors with an 8% range medium interest rate. They have received 69.35 billion won in funding.??

• Apart:mentary: Founded by Yoon So-Yeon, Apart:mentary is a one-stop interior design startup that has revolutionized the spaces where Koreans live. Yoon So-Yeon has raised 53 billion won in funding and continues to change people’s lives.?

Success Stories of Regional Startups in Korea?

• The Root Company: Founded by Kim Ji Woo, The Root Company is an agri-food impact startup that taps into the untapped potential of Gangneung's potato value chain. Unlike startups in Seoul, The Root Company thrives on its strong agricultural foundation, delivering high-quality potatoes at an affordable price.?

• Musma: Founded by Sungil Shin, Musma partners with a number of large and small enterprise customers in the Industrial IoT space with the goal of improving safety, productivity, and efficiency in the industrial workplace. It has accumulated 7.1 billion won in funding and continues to show impressive growth.??

These success stories highlight the resilience and innovation in South Korea's startup ecosystem, demonstrating how diversity in entrepreneurship drives significant achievements and fosters inclusive growth nationwide.?

Global Founders Bring Innovation to Korea?

While South Korea is one of the most homogenous countries in the world, its growing startup scene and opportunities has attracted the attention of founders and innovators all across the world. Many students studying abroad in Korea or who have moved to Korea for various purposes have called it their home and have built amazing startups from the ground up. In this article we’ll be introducing a few of these startups.?

Foreigner-founded Startups in Korea?

• Taghive: Pankaj Agarwal founded the AI incorporated edtech company Taghive after obtaining his MS from Seoul National University. The company was founded in Korea through Samsung Electronics' internal venture program, C Lab. The flagship learning program of the company called “Class Saathi” is being widely used both in Korea and India. As the world’s first Bluetooth clicker based smart classroom solution, Taghive has been accelerating learning on a global scale. The program also includes a list of questions strategically formulated to maximize learning and track progress.?

• Provotive: Packative is a service that provides solutions to clients looking for easy access to quality low-volume manufacturing. By using their self-developed 3D system, Provotive’s Packative is able to create custom packaging designs of various sizes. Created by founder and CEO Dominik Danninger, Provotive has made designing packaging for products across Korea accessible to anyone, just a few clicks away.??

Similarly, many foreign entrepreneurs are making their mark in Korea’s startup ecosystem. However, this doesn’t mean that Korea’s startup landscape is entirely welcoming to foreigners. It’s crucial for the government and the startup community to recognize the value of diversifying their entrepreneurial base to foster unique ideas and drive innovation. These success stories highlight the untapped potential of international founders.

This article has been written by Rancho & Jounghyun Shim

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