Investment in Startups Reaches 124.7B Won in August, Up 65% from Year Before

According to Platum on September 16, 23 investment cases (three cases did not reveal investment figures) were recorded and the amount of the investments arrived at 124.7 billion won (US$108 million) in total in August. The figure is the highest monthly investment of this year. 

Memebox, a beauty start-up, induced the largest investment figure. The company attracted about 73 billion won (US$63 million) from the Formation Group and Good Water Capital, which are global venture capital companies. Memebox announced that the company will focus on investing in mobile technology, data infrastructure and global networks based on these investments. The start-up officially revealed that they attracted a total of US$100 million in total. 

Minds Lab, an artificial intelligence-specialized start-up, received a total of 7 billion won (US$6 million) in investment from the Naver Investment Fund and LG U+. Minds Lab devotes itself to building artificial intelligence-based ChatBot, analyzing voice recognition big data and applying Korean and English artificial intelligence. With this investment as momentum, the company will diversify its products and services into the artificial intelligence platform business, smart speakers and robots and artificial intelligence counselors. 

Moreover, BBB, a mobile healthcare start-up, attracted a total of 5.5 billion won (US$4.7 million) in investment from ID Ventures, POSCO Technology Investment and Mirae Asset Capital. BBB came up with Elemark, an Android-based mobile blood tester for the first time in the world in six months since its foundation in 2014. The company set up its US corporation at the NASA Ames Research Center and is developing a mobile blood test technology for astronauts in concert with the center. BBB is planning to take the wrap off the product for the first time at MEDICA, the world’s largest medical instrument show to be held in Dusseldorf, Germany in November.  

Besides, Bitfinder which developed Awair, a customized air service device, attracted five billion won (US$4.3 million) in investment from ALTOS Ventures and Samsung Ventures Investment. AKA, an artificial intelligence robot developer, got five billion won (US$4.3 million) in investment from LG U+.