Invest KOREA

According to Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea,

A growing number of Korean startups are taking their business straight to overseas markets as cross-border activities have become easier through the pandemic momentum.

Konny by Erin, a startup producing baby wraps, has met explosive demand in Japan, the United States and Singapore for its lightweight and stylish baby carriers. Last year, the company raised 80 percent of its total revenue, which amounted to 23.7 billion won ($21.21 million), from abroad.

It has accumulated data on customer purchasing pattern and saved distribution cost through direct-to-consumer (DTC) channel that translated into price competitiveness.

“We employed AI-based size recommendation for various body types,” said Erin Lim, CEO of Konny by Erin. Its website offers English and Japanese language for global customers.

Accommodation startup H2O Hospitality offers an integrated hotel operation system based on information and technology (ICT) to digitalize hotel operations. The company ventured into Japan in 2017 just two years after foundation. “Our digital solutions can increase sales by 5 to 15 percent while reducing fixed operating costs by 40 to 50 percent,” explained CEO Lee Woong-hee. The startup is currently managing about 7,500 rooms in Korea, Japan and Thailand.

Global fintech solution provider SENTBE is the country’s first neo bank offering borderless financial services. It acquired an overseas remittance license from Singapore’s monetary authority for the first time in Korea. Its accumulated transaction volume exceeded 1.5 trillion won as of April.

The company provides real-time remittance services through its app to 50 countries. It had taken several days for foreign workers working in Korea to send money to their home countries before the app came out. Since launching in Singapore and Indonesia in November last year, it has been growing at an average of 450 percent each month. The company is planning to enter the U.S. market within the year, its CEO Choi Sung-wook said.

Elinha launched the K-beauty platform Freeco in Japan last year to provide information on Korean cosmetics to foreign consumers. The platform offers various services including information on ingredients of more than 70,000 Korean cosmetic products, popularity rankings and beauty-related Q&A community.

Healthcare startup Skylabs, a developer of ring-type heart monitoring device CART-I, has teamed up with Germany’s top wearable medical device distributor Titan Commerce Continental Service to enter Europe.



By Lee Sang-duk and Lee Soo-min

Copyrights Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea. All Rights Reserved.

Source: Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea (May 28, 2021)