south korea

Summer International uses social media data to launch new beauty brands • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 17, 2022Posted in Asia, beauty, Influencer Marketing, Singapore, social media, south korea, Southeast Asia, Startups, Summer International, wellnessNo Comments

If you follow #beautytok, #beautytube or any beauty content on social media platforms, you know that popular product trends are hard to keep up with. Summer International stays ahead of the game by identifying the most influential content creators, and working with them to incubate new brands. Founded in Singapore and based in Los Angeles and South Korea, Summer International announced today it has raised a $5 million seed round from investors including GDP Ventures, Teja Ventures, Gushcloud International and Singaporean angel investors Koh Boon Hwee and Shirley Crystal Tan. NYX founder and Bespoke Beauty Brands CEO Toni Ko will also join Summer International as a strategic investor. NYX was acquired by L’Oreal in 2014 for about $500 million. Summer International co-founder and CEO Xiaoski Kuik said the company’s goal is to create an ecosystem to help influencers and creators launch and sell beauty brands using consumer data and analytics. It operates in the United States, South Korea, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia. The company launched in 2018 along with Gushcloud International, an influencer marketing firm. Since then, Summer International has incubated brands like skincare line Baby Face with Singaporean influencer Jamie Chua, who has over 1.2 million followers, and wellness brands HANJAN, which launched in April at Coachella and recently struck a partnership with singer Nicole Scherzinger. Kuik told ZebethMedia that Summer International looks for creators and influencers who have a strong connection with their audience based on engagement rates, how active they are a video-first platforms and whether they have a strong localized community and global presence. “Many times, creators seek us out because of our reach and resources,” she said. “We have our own supply chain and we have the power to distribute brands across Asia via our social commerce and live distribution platforms. Our goal is to establish these top influencers as founders of the next-gen beauty, skincare and wellness brands and to provide them with the access and necessary resources they need to break into the market.” Other companies that also work with creators to launch brands include Pietra and Forma Brands. Ko said Summer International differentiates by owning its own distribution network and it also has a network of live commerce and social commerce distributors, mainly micro influencers based in Southeast Asia. “It gives us the ability to understand data of what consumers want and would buy and this allows us to collaborate with creators to build brands in a more cost-efficient manner,” Kuik said. Summer International’s live commerce distribution network helps it understand what brands and products consumers from different parts of Southeast Asia want to buy. It also provides data points like pricing and demographics to create new brands and market them. Summer International brands are sold through a mix of digital and offline channels, including e-commerce platforms, social and live commerce platforms and big box stores. They are also available on Summer.store, the company’s proprietary social commerce network.

Korean VC Sopoong closes $8M fund for startups focused on environmental impact • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 17, 2022Posted in Asia, Climate, climate tech, social impact, Sopoong Ventures, south korea, Startups, VentureNo Comments

Two years ago, South Korea unveiled a plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Getting there will be another story. Although Korean manufacturers say they are trying to change their ways, the country’s GDP is linked to some uniquely pollutive industries, including petrochemical producers, automakers and shipbuilders. Though some businesses may never be truly sustainable, a venture firm in Seoul argues that emerging climate-tech startups will help big manufacturers do better overall. Sopoong, a social impact-focused VC, intends to support environmentally minded tech founders in South Korea and Southeast Asia, while building a bridge between Korean conglomerates and startups in the sector. Sopoong has closed on around $8 million (10.3 billion won) for its latest, sixth fund, bringing the firm’s total assets under management to approximately $22 million (28 billion won). I spoke with Sopoong chief executive Max Sang-Yeop Han, a serial entrepreneur who joined Sopoong in 2016 and acquired the firm in 2019, to learn about the VC’s plans. “It is a significant signal for large South Korean corporates participating as limited partners of environmental and climate tech-focused venture capitals like us,” Han said. “Participating LPs [Korean conglomerates] are passionate about climate technology and want to take part to address the climate and environment issue as they agree that the climate crisis is one of the urgent problems.” Korean petroleum refining company GS Holdings and chemical company Isu participated in Sopoong’s climate-focused fund as limited partners as of April, Han said, adding that they will be more like strategic partners to Sopoong. Non-profit organizations such as Asan Nanum Foundation, established by Hyundai Group, and D.Camp, as well as startup founders and executives, including the co-founder and former CEO of Krafton, Gang-Seok Kim, also joined Sopoong’s climate fund, Han continued. The early-stage VC had already set up five social impact funds and backed 81 startups since 2020, after Han acquired the firm in December 2019. Sopoong was launched in 2008 by Jaewoong Lee, who co-founded South Korea’s largest internet portal operator Daum Communication, which merged with Kakao in 2014. Now, the VC firm wants to zero in on the climate crisis and other environmental issues through its sixth fund, but other tech sectors like SaaS and IT will still be on its radar, according to Han. “Two-thirds of the fund will be invested in the environment and climate tech, including renewable energy, agri-tech, and food tech, and the rest will go to the information technology industry investment,” Han said. Its sweet spot is early-stage ventures from seed to series A stages across South Korea and Southeast Asia. Its average check size is $150,000, but the firm can go up to $600,000, Han told ZebethMedia. The sixth fund has already invested in 16 startups, including MetaTexture, a plant-based food startup; Selex, a Vietnam-based electric scooter and battery-swapping technology startup; Myorange, a platform for managing charitable donations; and Function 12, an automation tool that helps users complete coding and design files. Nine of the 16 portfolio companies are participating in Sopoong’s first accelerator program, which launched in June and runs for six months. Sopoong invests up to $350,000 into each startup via the accelerator program and offers mentorship, co-working space, administrative support and networking opportunities with experts. On top of the accelerator, the firm also launched a six-month fellowship program to foster climate tech entrepreneurship. So far, Sopoong says it has selected 13 individuals with master’s or doctoral degrees in environment-related majors, offering them $1,700 in grants per month and other support, including the accelerator program. If participating fellows succeed in founding a startup, Sopoong could make a seed investment, Han said.

Samsung names Jay Y Lee executive chairman amid global economic downturn • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 27, 2022Posted in Enterprise, Jay Y. Lee, Samsung, south koreaNo Comments

Samsung Electronics has appointed Jay Y. Lee as the executive chairman to lead the world’s largest smartphone and memory chipmaker, two months after the heir received a presidential pardon that erased the 54-year-old’s criminal record. Lee, who has been vice chairman of Samsung since 2012, had been expected to take over the tech giant after the death of his father Kun-hee Lee, the late Samsung Group chairman, in 2020. In August, Lee received a special presidential pardon, which allowed Lee to officially participate in the management, restoring his right to work at Samsung and accelerating its decision-making on major strategies from chipmaking to investment plans. The long-anticipated appointment comes amid shrinking global demand for chips and smartphones and market uncertainty driven by the economic downturn. “The Board cited the current uncertain global business environment and the pressing need for stronger accountability and business stability in approving the recommendation,” Samsung said in a statement. South Korea’s largest memory chip maker said today its operating profit for the third quarter tumbled 31.39% from the year-ago period to 10.85 trillion KRW ($7.7 billion). Earnings in its memory chip and the System large-scale integration (LSI) businesses dropped to 5.12 trillion KRW, from 10.07 trillion KRW a year earlier, due to weak demand for consumer products, mobile phones and TVs, according to the company. This is Samsung’s first year-on-year drop in profit since 2019. Samsung reported sales of 76.78 trillion KRW (~$54 billion) in the three months ending September, representing a 3.79% rise from the year-ago quarter. The company expects demands for electronic devices and chips to cover to some extent in 2023 though macroeconomic uncertainties are likely to persist. “In the memory business, after a dampened first half, demand is expected to rebound centering on servers as data center installations resume,” the company said in its statement. The downbeat earnings come nearly three weeks after the Biden administration announced sweeping new rules aimed at blocking China from gaining access to advanced chip items. The restrictions prevent exporting certain semiconductors and selling equipment using advanced technologies to China-based chipmakers. Leading global semiconductor makers, including Samsung Electronics, TSMC, and SK Hynix have been granted one-year permission to use U.S. technology for selling advanced semiconductor chips for supercomputers and artificial intelligence to Chinese firms. SK Hynix, which competes with Samsung in the memory chip sector, said Wednesday it plans to slash its capital expenditure in 2023 by more than 50 percent after reporting a 60% drop in its profits in 3Q. Samsung sells NAND and DRAM chips used in laptops, smartphones and data storage. The tech behemoth said earlier this month it plans to more than triple producing advanced chips for high-performance computers, artificial intelligence, 5G and 6G telco and automotive. Samsung aims to start manufacturing 2-nanometer chips by 2025 and 1.4-nanometer chips by 2027.

Korean internet giant Naver eyes North America, Europe as it grows its C2C marketplace business • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 26, 2022Posted in Commerce, EC Consumer Applications, EC Ecommerce and D2C, Naver, Poshmark, south koreaNo Comments

Did you know that Google isn’t the top search engine in South Korea? It’s not even a close second. Most Koreans actually prefer Naver for various reasons, and they like it so much that the search engine holds about 56% of the market, per Statista. Google is catching up, but it currently only has about a 35% share, and it’ll likely be a while before it can close the gap. Naver’s other offerings are also received quite well in the country, including its e-commerce platform, messaging, payments, storytelling, digital comics (webtoons), metaverse efforts, a selfie app, games, the cloud and more. But like any true tech company, Naver was never satisfied with its success at home. The company quickly expanded to Japan, and more widely in Southeast Asia. But instead of leading with its core search engine and e-commerce businesses, it instead opted for different strategies in each new country, such as expanding in Japan with its Line messaging app and increasing its footprint in Southeast Asia with its 3D avatar app, Zepeto, and other offerings. It’s now expanding its e-commerce business — wildly successful in South Korea with 18% of the market — with a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) marketplace model that it aims to offer in North America, Europe and Asia. Unlike many B2C marketplaces, which usually sell large quantities of a few profitable, popular items, Naver’s e-commerce strategy is focusing on long-tail business, allowing sellers to sell small quantities of hard-to-find items to buyers looking for niche products. It wants to add a social network feature, which allows sellers to receive comments, likes and users in its e-commerce unit. To that end, the company earlier this month said it would buy Redwood, California-based social commerce marketplace Poshmark for $1.2 billion.

Kakao co-CEO resigns after fire incident that caused mass outage • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 19, 2022Posted in Apps, Kakao, kakaotalk, Social, south koreaNo Comments

Whon Namkoong, the co-chief executive of Kakao, has resigned from his position after a fire incident at a data center last week caused a mass outage at the South Korea’s top instant messaging app KakaoTalk. Namkoong, who joined Kakao in 2015, was elevated to the co-CEO role this March. At a press conference Tuesday, he said the company will do its best to restore the faith of users. KakaoTalk is the most popular app in South Korea, reaching over 47 million of the nation’s 51.7 million population each month. The app is also used by government officials. Shares of Kakao tumbled on Monday but recovered slightly on Namkoong’s departure announcement. Namkoong apologized for the mass outage “for such an extended period” and said at the conference that he feels “the heavy burden of responsibility” over the incident. (More to follow)

Terra’s Do Kwon says South Korea’s charges against him not legitimate and politically motivated • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 18, 2022Posted in Crypto, Do Kwon, south koreaNo Comments

Do Kwon says charges levelled against him by the South Korean prosecutors are not legitimate and politically motivated, sharing a rare update on what has become one of the most high profile events in the crypto industry this year in the aftermath of the $40 billion wipeout of his Terra blockchain. Kwon said he has yet to receive a copy of the Interpol’s red notice and his understanding is that the order doesn’t include an international arrest warrant. He said in the meantime he is complying with “all the document requests” made by the South Korean prosecutors. “Every sovereign nation can interpret the red notice the way it sees fit,” he told journalist Laura Shin on her podcast Unchained. He said he plans to address, appeal and do everything to get to a “better result.” Interpol issued a red notice for Kwon last month after South Korean prosecutors made the request to the organisation that facilitates international police information exchange and arrest requests. Earlier this month, South Korea ordered Kwon to surrender his passport, or risk getting it revoked. “The second point of clarification is that since the end of last year, I haven’t been living in South Korea. So it wouldn’t be accurate to say [the order is about me] returning to South Korea. The more accurate point would be would I travel to South Korea,” he said. Media reports have claimed that Kwon has been on the run and has left Singapore. Kwon disputed many of the findings in media reports, but declined to disclose where he is currently residing, citing personal security and privacy concerns. Kwon also expressed disappointment at the overreach of South Korea’s Financial Services Commission, which he said is tasked with devising regulation policy but is increasingly making enforcements. He said the Korean government as well as the FSC don’t classify cryptocurrencies as securities. “So it’s not within the ambits of their jurisdiction to regulate cryptocurrency for that reason,” he said. “We are a little bit disappointed in the way that prosecutors are attempting to create new regulation through criminal enforcement proceedings whereas that really should be within the job description of the legislature or at the very least the financial regulators,” he said, adding that he doesn’t think “any of the charges pertaining to the Capital Markets Act” are “legitimate” and are “politically motivated.” (More to follow)

Shares of Korean internet giant Kakao slide after fire disrupts service • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 17, 2022Posted in Apps, Asia, Government & Policy, Kakao, Naver, south koreaNo Comments

The stock price of South Korea’s internet giant Kakao tumbled on Monday after a fire at a data center that cut off power on Saturday, causing several service malfunctions. The blaze at the SK C&C data center, which houses the servers of Korea’s two largest internet companies — Kakao and Naver — disrupted Kakao’s messaging, ride-hailing, payment and game apps, and Naver’s internet search and news services, over the weekend. Some disruption is ongoing — mainly affecting Kakao’s services. On Monday morning, Kakao’s share price dropped more than 9%. Its peer Naver also slid 2% at the opening of trading before recovering. At the time of writing, Kakao said it had restored KakaoTalk, the country’s dominant messaging app — with more than 46 million monthly active users in South Korea as of September 2022 and 53 million globally. On Monday afternoon it also said it had completed recovering its financial services. But some other services are still down. Meanwhile, Naver, which faced partial disruptions as a result of the fire on Saturday, quickly restored most of its operations on Sunday. According to a report by Bernstein, Kakao’s slow recovery process was caused by the company’s lack of owned server infrastructure and “high dependence” on the SK C&C data center. It also highlights Kakao’s lack of a well distributed backup system. The report pointed out that Naver was able to resume its primary services promptly because it has owned server infrastructure and a well-designed backup process. KakaoTalk remains the dominant messaging service in South Korea and the Bernstein report predicts it will maintain its position despite the outage, given how far behind its rivals are in marketshare terms. Additionally, it points out that Kakao’s messaging app is linked to other services such as Kakao bank, payment and ride-hailing services, so users are unlikely to replace the app with less fully featured alternatives like WhatsApp or Telegram, per the report. The second largest messaging app after Kakao in South Korea is FaceBook Messenger but it has only 3.9 million MAU as of September 2022. While Naver’s messenger app, Line, has about 1.6 million monthly active users. In its statement on Saturday night, Kakao said the fire broke out at around 3:30 PM (local time). It added that it is investigating the matter. A statement by Naver on Saturday afternoon said it is aware of issues impacting its services as a result of the fire. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol also made public comments on Monday following the incident — remarking that a private company operates KakaoTalk but describing it as practically a national communications infrastructure. Yoon called on the government to investigate the exact causes of the fire. “I respect corporate autonomy and creativity, but that is based on the premise that the market reasonably allocates resources and income in a system of fair competition,” Yoon said. “If a monopoly situation causes market manipulation, the government should take systemic action.”