The Blockchain boom of 2017-2018 in Korea is long over. However, as the buzz around Blockchain and cryptocurrencies died down in 2019-2020. The start of 2021 saw a significant boom which took the price of Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies to an all-time high. Now in 2023, there have been many exciting developments regarding Blockchain in Korea. Before we look ahead, we need to understand why Korea was such a hotbed for cryptocurrencies in the first place and why the Korean government has embraced Blockchain technologies compared to other countries. First, we will go into a complete break ..read more

Here is a reality that most Korean startups need to know and understand. Over 70% of all Korean startups only last a year. This is despite the massive support programs set up by the Korean government. These startups set up operations in all kinds of sectors such as e-commerce, health care technology, robotics, AI, logistics, IoT, etc. Close to 800,000 startups all over the world emerge every year. Yet about half of them go out of business within two years. This is the same for Korea. A report released by Statistics Korea. Since 2013, nearly 75% of Korean startups only lasted a year. As Seoulz ..read more

China made headlines in cryptocurrency when it launched its pilot digital yuan (e-CNY) in early 2022. The digital currency works through a mobile app, e-CNY, available on Android and Apple app stores. The pilot program included 23 cities in China, such as Beijing and Shanghai. In South Korea, in 2018, the then-mayor of Seoul, Park Won-soon, announced that he wanted to launch the S-Coin for Seoul’s public services, such as transportation. However, with his sudden death, the launch of the S-Coin has remained on hold. The S-Coin was to be created through a program the Korean government ran with t ..read more

The South Korean media is very difficult for global companies to break into. This is because the South Korean media and newspapers have had a bad reputation for being manipulated by the Korean government. Many might not know this, but freedom of speech is only partly true in South Korea. Many Koreans feel that many major publications are run by government implants that control the content released. There have been many brave Korean journalists who have stood up to the role the government plays in manipulating the news. These journalists have sometimes gone to jail or have lost their jobs. Howe ..read more

The Korean Blockchain ecosystem got a huge boost from the Korean Blockchain explosion in 2017. Since late 2017, Koreans have been buying cryptocurrencies from around the world. 2018 was particularly interesting as many Koreans bought and sold cryptocurrency because of the exchange price difference. This was called the Kimchi Premium, and even mom and pops that knew nothing about cryptocurrencies started to buy it. While this boom has long passed, South Korea is one of the few countries in Asia that is very open to Blockchain technologies.  Koreans, in particular, are very open to cryptocu ..read more

The Korean Startup Ecosystem in 2023 looks bright after the impact of COVID during parts of 2020 and 2022 and much of 2021. t may surprise some that South Korea’s economy is now the 4th largest in Asia. They have one of the best wireless infrastructures, yet Korea is still globally not recognized as a startup tech hub. Their rise from one of the world’s poorest countries to a highly developed country in just under 60 years is not commonly known. South Korea’s success proves that good economic management is far more critical than natural resource wealth in determining the success of a nation.&n ..read more

The Korean gaming culture has turned Esports in Korea into an organized structure partnered with some of the biggest corporations in Korea. South Korea now has the top Esports ecosystems in the world. Esports is now a billion-dollar industry. This is because the number of people at home playing games grew once the pandemic started. This has led to a higher interest in Esports, which also saw an increase in viewership on both YouTube and Twitch. Many other streaming sites showcasing Esports are watched by hundreds of millions of people all over the world. Therefore, it is considered by many the ..read more

One of the most challenging aspects of entering the Chinese market is finding reliable manufacturers in China. Korean startups have stressed over and over again how difficult it is to find the right partner but also manufacturers they can communicate with. Companies in China invest a lot of money in Baidu SEO to ensure they are seen within China; however, they don’t invest at all in Google. This means it is difficult for global companies looking to enter China to find information unless they use Baidu, which most are not. Still, many Korean startups focus on China since China has a population ..read more

The top Korean crowdfunding platform is Wadiz. Wadiz is the platform many startups in Korea look to for seed fundraising. It is also a great platform for investors and consumers to find new and innovative products. The platform is estimated to have raised over $500 million in 2022. Crowdfunding has become very popular in South Korea. The ability to pitch and fund projects in the tech space and the arts has become vital for innovators and entrepreneurs in Korea to launch their products as quickly as possible. The only catch is that the campaign must be in Korean since most of the users of Wadiz ..read more

Competition in the SaaS (Software as a Service) space is increasing as customers are looking for better solutions to their problems. Korea has been known for its innovation in the tech space. Many software companies in Korea have sprung up. Thanks to easily deployable infrastructure like AWS and readymade website builders like WIX and Shopify, it’s possible to get a company up and running in less than a day and start collecting leads. Therefore the SaaS market in Korea is at an all-time high, with Korean SaaS startups coming up with SaaS solutions for the Korean market. It is estimated that So ..read more