Weekly VentureSquare Stories are summaries of some of the week’s top posts relating to the Korean startup and venture Industry.
Cocoa Book Considers Overseas Markets
After the rise in popularity of social commerce, another new area that is gaining attention is dating sites. Though such sites are appearing as a new type of service, lets not kid ourselves — we’ve seen plenty of sites come and go, ones where you would waste money on coupons and open up your message box feeling disappointed. Whereas i-Um is a 1-to-1 matchmaking service, Cocoa Book is a 3-to-3 service. The company’s marketing strategy is clever, releasing statistics from surveys to media outlets who in turn use the information to create articles which mention their service.
Everyday users receive a message showing three people who are interested in them. The user then chooses which of those three they are interested in and if the other user confirms, the couple are linked up. Cocoa Book was created by two year-old company April7. The company had originally developed an online language study platform but due to the numerous other companies, communities and content, it became too difficult to operate. The company had to make a quick change and luckily with the mobile platforms and number of single people it could.
Two months ago Cocoa Book had passed 80,000 members but as of March that has grown to over 130,000. If one fifth of the current population is single then it can be expected that this will continue to grow. Run by eight people in their 20’s and 30’s within Hanyang University’s campus, expenses are kept low. Of course everyone wants to receive investment but CEO Lee Jung Hun isn’t quite sure. Despite having never received any investment, the company is already showing profit and growth and Lee isn’t sure if receiving investment is the right thing to do. Also, though moving offices would be nice, he doesn’t necessarily feel the need to move into some fancy and expensive place. Lee says that if April7 did receive investment then it would probably be for breaking in to the international markets.
Darez is a creative solutions company that was founded three years ago by CEO Bahn Seok Yoon. Unlike a lot of other startups who often struggle for money at the start and spend much effort searching for investment, Darez has done well for itself with steady growth and profits. But Yoon and his team have decided to try and take on the challenge of something new. Despite doing well why has he decided to something else?
“I thought, after seeing all the innovation in the mobile arena I just couldn’t stay still. I felt there was a lot that could be done with this second opportunity and market which is opening up.”
The service they are preparing is not just localized to a mobile platform but anywhere on the internet or in life where the problem of choice is involved. The reason people network is to obtain information. People try so hard to get information and once they have it, one is often faced with the problem of having to make a choice. The choice is up to you and it affects a lot of things. But what if you had information to help you make the choice and reduce some of the risk? Darez’s new service which is set to be released in May, will be a service which can be used both from your phone and computer, and will link social commerce services, social networks and other basic services to help in making everyday decisions. Darez, which previously hasn’t had to consider gaining investment, may now have to think about receiving some external capital.
“There are times when too much information actually makes one tired. What social networks need more than anything is filtering and curation. Soon we will release our attempt to change the social network paradigm.”
CO-UP Share Projects
CO-UP Share is a project supporting startups or projects which aim to help find clear and creative solutions in the field of cooperative spending and a shared economy. Here is a brief summary of four of the projects which Ejang reported on this week.
Jipbob (일일집밥)
Jipbob is a social dining platform for singles who love food. In South Korea the reality for many is that everyone is in such a rush that they don’t have time to eat at home and often eating in a restaurant is cheaper than buying the ingredients yourself. Jipbob aims to revive Korea’s dining culture which has disappeared. At the same time, in a culture like Korea’s, meeting new people isn’t easy. Jipbob offers three solutions for these problems: 1. Restaurants with food that you can trust. 2. The opportunity to meet new people and enjoy the company of others. 3. Taking away the awkwardness of who will foot the bill. Find out more about Jipbob by visiting their blog or following them on Twitter or Facebook.
Dorm-Surfing
This project started with the relationship between students, money and traveling. Most students want to travel but one of the things which holds many back whether in Korea or overseas is the issue of accommodation. Already many around the world are using services like Couch Surfing to seek out cheap but reliable accommodation. Dorm-surfing wants to help traveling university students find easier ways get accommodation using the dorms of universities which often have large amounts of empty rooms available during the holiday seasons. You can view the latest news on their blog or follow Dorm-Surfing’s Twitter or Facebook page.
The Open Closet
The Open Closet is a project which is aimed at young people who are on the hunt for jobs. The company hopes to offer two main services. One is lending biographical and inspiring books to help job seekers learn more about the various jobs and different walks of life in the world. Another upcoming service which the company hopes to offer is a suit sharing service. Many students end up spending a large amount of money on a suit which they are only likely to wear a few times. For those with not much spare cash, making such a purchase can be quite a burden and The Open Closet wants to solve this with their suit lending service. Check out their website or like their Facebook page here.
Naroom
Naroom is a space sharing project which is currently being developed. At many companies or even at government offices there are often spare office and meeting rooms which remain empty or are not used in the weekends. Finding a quiet place to gather can be hard sometimes and Naroom plans to help connect empty spaces with people who need them for events, meetings, study or even to practice singing. Companies can offer the space for free or rent it out for a modest fee. Though the service is not open yet you can like them on Facebook or follow their Twitter account for the latest information.
Korea’s Leading Startup OpenIR and Entrepreneur Conference
- Date: May 31st (Thursday)
- Venue: Plaza Hotel, Jung-gu, Seoul
- Host: Maekyung Media Group
- Support: KTOA, VentureSquare
- Sponsors: KT, SKT, LGU+
Featuring:
- IT companies other than mobile-based will be included
- Startups which are up to five years old can apply
- Introduction of a 60 second elevator pitch
- Top Seven Startups to take part in an Upcoming Camp Event!
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* If you are interested in sharing your ideas or company and translating them into Korean, feel free to e-mail us at editor@venturesquare.net