Silicon Valley, Korean startups’ choice for global business

Silicon Valley was the favorite place for South Korean startups for their global business as more of them were established in other countries for the world market.

The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) said on Wednesday that South Korean startups set up abroad totaled 132 last year, making up 51% of the country’s 259 startups. Those companies established in overseas markets accounted for 46% in 2021 and 37% in 2020.

Among the total, 36.7% were founded in North America with 48.4% of them established in Silicon Valley, the global center for high technology and innovation located in Northern California, according to the KOTRA. South Korean startups set up in China, Southeast Asia and Europe made up 19.7%, 15.4% and 10.8%, respectively, the state-funded organization said.

In 2022, 26 startups were established in other countries and half of them did not have parent companies at home.

VARIOUS SECTORS

South Korean startups founded abroad worked in various sectors such as artificial intelligence, lifestyle, mobile, as well as game and entertainment. Among the total, 8.9% focused on the AI and 8.1% covered the lifestyle business.

A quarter of the total logged annual sales of more than $1 million, while 18% reported revenues of less than $10,000.

Most of those startups were in the early stage of growth with 70% of them raising money in Series A funding while 64% of the total hired 10 employees or less.

Six startups raised money from foreign investors last year.

Write to Jae-Fu Kim at hu@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.