The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at jack.baek@nhqv.com. -- Ed.Sales of Mercury’s flagship Wi-Fi 6 APs are increasing steadily. Moving ahead, sales growth is expected for new products such as IoT telecom modules for Coway’s home appliances and room management
The author is an analyst of Shinhan Investment Corp. He can be reached at hsh0628@shinhan.com. -- Ed. Client base expands alongside growing demand for SCM solutionsIncreased volatility in global supply chains and efforts to reinforce ESG (environmental, social, and governance) management are driving
Private equity funds (PEFs) led, as sellers or acquirers, 17 out of the top 20 M&A deals in South Korea last year. The ratio increased from 65 percent to 80 percent in 2020 and to 85 percent last year.For example, MBK Partners sold Doosan Machine Tools to DTR Automotive for 2.4931 trillion won and K
The daily use of cryptocurrencies is accelerating. More and more stores are adopting cryptocurrency-based payment, as this method is more economical than credit card-based payment and more convenient for users.At present, PCI and MLK support both online and offline payment in South Korea. PCI was de
Startup Alliance Korea said on Dec. 9 that this year’s domestic startup investment is expected to exceed 20 trillion won.Last year, the investment was approximately 11.6 trillion won, consisting of 9.0815 trillion won from the government and domestic investment companies and 2.5 trillion won or so f
Platform companies are continuing to object to the Bill on the Fairness of Online Platform Intermediary Transactions, which was tabled in January this year. The companies have claimed that the bill is yet another regulation, and the Korea Fair Trade Commission has claimed that the bill is something
The Startup Alliance announced on Nov. 22 that South Korean startups attracted an investment of 9.4033 trillion won for the first 10 months of this year and the annual total is expected to exceed 10 trillion won for the first time in history this year.This has to do with various incentives from the
South Korean unicorns such as Viva Republica, Zigbang, Yanolja and Musinsa are expanding their business by acquiring startups and subsidiaries of larger companies.For example, Viva Republica, which runs Toss, recently acquired Tada in order to expand its business beyond the financial industry and do
Naver is planning to establish an artificial intelligence (AI) company in partnership with Softbank of Japan. Naver is likely to provide AI technology and human resources, while Softbank is highly likely to provide capital and global networks.Naver and Softbank have started negotiations to create an
A total of 10 South Korean startups attracted an investment of at least 100 billion won each between January and July this year. For reference, the number stood at four in 2020 as a whole. Half of the 10 startups are aiming to go public abroad.The 10 include Yanolja, IYUNO Media and Riiid, which hav
Yanolja Cloud will enter the Turkish hospitality market in earnest. The company announced on July 27 that it has signed an agreement with CMH Solutions to form a strategic partnership for the digital transformation of the Turkish travel industry.The key point of this agreement is to expand the intro
Yanolja Cloud announced on July 19 that it has formed a strategic partnership with VNTravel, the largest travel company in Vietnam. Yanolja has recently attracted an investment of two trillion won from SoftBank Vision Fund II and Yanolja Cloud is the company’s business arm newly launched for cloud s
An increasing number of South Korean companies are aiming to repeat the success of Coupang after it made a successful debut on the New York Stock Exchange in March this year.SoftBank chairman Masayoshi Son is increasing his investment in South Korean startups after his successful investment in Coupa
Masayoshi Son, chairman of Japan's SoftBank Group, has picked Yanolja as a Korean venture company that can become the next Coupang. Son is expected to invest two trillion won to grow Yanolja into a global accommodation and travel platform and directly list it in the U.S. stock market.Son’s Visio
Citibank announced on May 24 that it has signed a business agreement with leisure platform Yanolja to rev up its global business. It plans to combine Yanolja’s platform capabilities with its global network. Citibank, which has decided to withdraw from the consumer financial market in Korea, is stepp
The Korea Exchange is planning to actively help unicorns go public in order to prevent them from opting for foreign stock markets instead of the South Korean market.Korea Exchange Chairman Sohn Byung-doo met with the CEOs of securities firms on April 29. “After Coupang, an increasing number of South
Yanolja, Korea’s No. 1 online travel agent (OTA), announced on Jan. 18 that it has acquired Sanha Information Technology (IT), Korea's largest hotel solution company.Sanha IT was established in 1994 and develops and offers IT solutions for leisure facilities such as hotels, resorts, golf courses
Unlisted stock trading services using blockchain technology are in full swing. Based on the government’s pilot project and a financial regulation sandbox, the financial sector including KOSCOM and blockchain companies is launching services one after another. Many expert say that that blockchains whe
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on Feb. 7 that Korea Venture Investment Corp. would run a venture fund of 2.52 trillion won this year, including a government budget of 1.1 trillion won.Specifically, the fund is divided into one trillion won for supporting the growth of unicorn companies,
South Korea does not stack up against the United States and China in terms of the number of unicorn companies, which refer to unlisted startups valued at over US$1 billion. The United States and China have 201 and 101 unicorns, respectively, while Korea has only nine.The United States and China has