Korea’s startup scene begins to diversify, reach beyond its own borders
Korea’s startup scene begins to diversify, reach beyond its own borders.
In 2013 the Korean government partnered with the nation’s largest conglomerates to boost Korea’s economy and grow its startup ecosystem.
Recently K- Startup Grand Challenge provided 40 foreign startups with grants and acceleration in Seoul.
With a top 15 global economy, Korea is now a wealthy market, and the world is investing.
Foreign investment in Korean businesses increased 13.4 percent last year.
But there’s still room to grow For all its efforts, the Korean startup scene is still young — very young!
The government has played a positive role in legitimizing entrepreneurship as a career.
The country is now legitimately labeled as an emerging startup hotspot in Asia.
Foreigners played a large and important role in Silicon Valley’s success.
If foreign entrepreneurs can understand and appreciate these, they could find success and help create a more vibrant startup environment.
Don’t Forget the Fly-Over States
Don’t Forget the Fly-Over States.
A big trend we are seeing in the venture capital world is that investors are actively seeking out new pockets of innovation in old economy industries.
For instance: The world needs only so many pizza delivery apps.
And there’s an opportunity to apply the kind of innovation that has already overtaken whole markets, such as travel planning and taxi rides, and apply it to big and complex challenges.
Imagine revolutionizing farming and feeding the world.
Or re-engineering our energy use to stop climate change in its tracks.
This kind of industrial-strength disruption means getting out of the comfort zone of the typical innovation hubs in Silicon Valley and New York and into the rest of the country.
Mercury Fund’s Aziz Gilani is passionate about the opportunity and potential for innovation in Middle America.
His focus is the “mid-continent,” a term that comes from the railroad era to delineate the region that extends from Texas to industry hubs in cities such as Detroit, Cincinnati and Chicago.
The Kauffman Fellows interviewed Gilani about the opportunity in traditional industrial hubs at their recent VC Reunion Summit in Kansas City, Mo.
![Funding Galore: Startup Fundings Of The Week [12 December – 17 December]](http://briofinancial.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/funding-galore-startup-fundings-of-the-week-12-december-17-december-400x250.jpg)
Funding Galore: Startup Fundings Of The Week [12 December – 17 December]
17 DC-Area Startups to Watch in 2017
Now, as everyone breathes a sigh of relief at the end of the year and starts bracing themselves for the year to come, we thought we’d gather together 17 of the local startups to watch out for in the new year.
Whether or not they get their names splashed across front pages in 2017, they’ll be important to keep an eye on as we dive into 2017.
The company is gearing up for a busy year after recently closing a $5 million funding round.
The company has already raised $5 million, $2 million directly from Morningstar, the investment research firm that paid $52.5 million to buy HelloWallet in 2014.
Thanks to the investment this year, the company has now pushed ahead with a reporting dashboard to integrate various relevant data sets and leap even more into the high-end international event space.
Whatever the final shape of Axios, there’s no doubt that everyone else in the media will watch closely to see how they get the public to “consume media more efficiently,” as Schwartz put it.
That client list is already at four figures, mostly companies with more than 1,000 employees, including more than 100 universities.
Though currently only selling beer from its tasting room, Aslin is working to sale up its production, setting up 2017 to be a year when a lot more people will get a chance to enjoy its brews.
That funding sees it poised for new locations in new cities and a raised profile from features like full-service bars and, of course, its offer of free ampersand tattoos to employees.
Spotluck Restaurant discovery and savings platform Spotluck had a very successful year, growing in D.C. and adding Philadelphia and Baltimore to its list of cities.
Startups Seek to Democratize the Muni Market
Startups Seek to Democratize the Muni Market. “The muni market has a lot to do with relationships, power and influence,” said Rob Novembre, a former trader who has spearheaded a new alternative bond trading system.
If you buy bigger blocks [of bonds], that gets you more power.”
The startup in San Francisco, Neighborly, goes about finding new buyers by marketing muni bonds to investors with a personal or social interest in the project those bonds are funding.
Unlike a 30-year bond that pays out the same “fixed” interest rate for the life of the bond, variable rate debt’s interest rates reset weekly.
Traditionally, marketing agents for an issuer reset the interest rate themselves.
The interest rate is set by the lowest price for which the bonds will sell each week.
Metcalf says he’s never sure if he’s getting the best possible interest rate every week on his debt.
On the fifth interest rate reset, Ohio’s variable rate debt fetched a better interest rate on Clarity than the industry average for issuers like Ohio.
I’m going to pay the best interest rate that somebody’s willing to take.”
Trivago Announces Pricing Of Initial Public Offering
Startup funding in 2017: A different game?
Startup funding in 2017: A different game?.
venture capital – when ideas meet resources The year 2016 was tough for startups and entrepreneurs.
All the ventures, whether funded or bootstrapped, were stress-tested for their business models, unit economics, and the grit of the teams.
Everyone was getting funded.
Let’s not get to what will happen in 2017 and just go back to 2014-2015 parties again.
During that time, the investors somehow showed very low immunity to FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out).
Many have actually been successful at adopting this strategy.
The startups vying for funding are the ones who have much more mature business models than two years ago.
I have a strong feeling that the investments that will happen in 2017 will help launch or support companies that have long lasting impact.
He has been active in the Indian and global startup ecosystem for more than a decade.
Trivago’s IPO falls below expectations: source
Significant investor interest as Spar Shandong introduces initial public offering
Significant investor interest as Spar Shandong introduces initial public offering.
Spar Shandong operators, Jiajiayue Group, who became SPAR International’s first retail partner in China in 2004, have launched an initial public offering (IPO) which saw the company listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Jiajiayue issued 90m shares priced at 13,64 yuan per share to raise 1,23bnn yuan ($178,12m).
Jiajiayue was the first Spar partner in China and opened its first store in 2005 in the city of Weihai, north east China.
It also operates eight distribution centres delivering across 50 cities.
Investor interest in today’s IPO is testament to the strength and vision of the company and its management team.
The store formats cover hypermarket, supermarket, department store, neighbourhood store and discount store.
The company has been recognised with a number of awards, including top 100 China FMCG Chain, Customer Satisfied Company in Shandong Province and Top Employer of China Retailing.
Spar is the world’s largest voluntary retail chain with retail sales of €33bn in 2015.
SPAR International’s multi-format strategy sees its Partners operate over 12,100 hypermarket, supermarket, neighbourhood and convenience stores serving the needs of 13m customers daily.
Dayton startup receives $500K in funding
Dayton startup receives $500K in funding.
Jason Terry, founder of GreenSpace, and Accelerant’s Roger Edwards worked together to secure funding for the Dayton-based startup.
KARA DRISCOLL/STAFF The Dayton Development Coalition’s Accelerant program has invested $500,000 in another startup, and they expect to fund two more companies by the end of the year.
Accelerant, an initiative of the coalition that funds seed-stage companies, announced it is investing in Dayton-based startup GreenSpace Enterprise Technologies.
GreenSpace, founded by Springboro resident Jason Terry, is developing occupancy management technology for large corporations.
The technology addresses a growing issue for companies — it helps businesses with large buildings or multiple sites determine what space is actually being used throughout the work day.
While other startups have had the need for other types of funding or grants, Accelerant doesn’t believe GreenSpace will require additional funding.
In the past year, Accelerant has also made other investments.
According to the annual Kauffman Index, entrepreneurial growth is still on a long-term decline but edged slightly upward in most states in the past year.
“There’s a lot of momentum in the Dayton startup community right now,” Terry said.
CDSL Plans To File Initial Papers For IPO Soon: Report
CDSL Plans To File Initial Papers For IPO Soon: Report.
New Delhi: Central Depository Services (India) (CDSL), promoted by BSE, is likely to soon file draft papers with market regulator Sebi for its initial public offering.
CDSL allows investors to deposit securities by opening an account.
The securities such as shares, debentures, bonds of investors are held in electronic form (dematerialised) at the depositories.
It has a little over 1.17 crore investor accounts.
The initial public offer is likely to see existing shareholders, including BSE, offloading shares through the offer-for-sale (OFS) route.
BSE, which holds 50.05 per cent stake in CDSL, has to pare its stake in the depository to comply with Sebi norms.
Under the regulations, a stock exchange cannot have more than 24 per cent in a depository.
Apart from BSE, other shareholders in CDSL are Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Canara Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Life Insurance Corporation of India and Calcutta Stock Exchange.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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