“2023 Startup Total Investment Amounts to KRW 5.338 Trillion, Halved Compared to Previous Year” – STARTUP ALLIANCE
Korea’s STARTUP ALLIANCE released its ‘2023 Startup Investment Report’ on January 26th.
The report, based on media reports and STARTUP ALLIANCE’s own research, revealed that there were 1,284 investment deals in startups in 2023, totaling KRW 5.3388 trillion. This marks a decrease from 1,765 deals in 2022 to 1,284 in 2023 (-27.25%), and a significant reduction in total investment amount from approximately KRW 11.1404 trillion in 2022 to KRW 5.3388 trillion (-52.08%).
In 2023, the startup investment market experienced a downturn, leading to a drastic decrease in large-scale investments. However, investments under 1 billion won represented 63% (817 deals) of all investment deals, indicating a strong trend in early-stage investments. The leading sectors in investment numbers were Healthcare, Manufacturing, and Content & Social. The ongoing investment freeze seemed to have directed funds towards sectors with potential long-term value, such as Healthcare and deep tech.
The sectors receiving the highest investment amounts were Finance & Insurance, Content & Social, and Manufacturing. Specifically, the Finance & Insurance sector received 733 billion won, Content & Social 645.8 billion won, and Manufacturing 626.8 billion won.
Particularly last year, the AI and semiconductor sectors received significant attention, notably with the rise of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. In Healthcare, AI precision medicine service ‘ImpriMed’ and brain disease AI imaging diagnosis solution ‘NEUROPHET’ raised 30 billion won and 20 billion won, respectively. In Manufacturing, ‘MANGOBOOST,’ which develops DPUs (Data Processing Units), secured 70 billion won, and custom semiconductor design solution ‘SEMIFIVE’ received 68 billion won. In the Content sector, video mega AI company ‘Twelve Labs’ became the first Korean startup to receive investment from Nvidia.
Startup exits in 2023 included 53 mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and 9 initial public offerings (IPOs). Compared to 2022, M&As decreased from 126 to 53 (-57.94%). Major M&As featured the acquisition of AI audio startup ‘Supertone’ by entertainment company ‘HYBE’ and content translation startup ‘Voithru’ by Kakao’s Japanese subsidiary ‘Kakao piccoma’. Key IPOs were space startup ‘CONTEC’ and semiconductor fabless startup ‘FADU.’
Nine startups attracted large-scale investments of over 100 billion won each, including Toss Bank, MUSINSA, Beyond Music, Rebellions, OKESTRO, and Kurly.
[Venture Investment Stats in Korea]
- [Official] Korean VC Market Reaches $8.4B in Investment and $9.8B in Fundraising in 2023
- 2023 Korean Startup Investments Shrink: THE VC Report Highlights
- Ministry of SMEs and Startups Reports Recovery in Korean Venture Capital Investment
- Korean Venture Capital Investment Declines in H1 2023, but Still Up From Pre-COVID Levels
- South Korea’s Q1 2023 venture investment down 60% year-on-year
- Venture investment in South Korea to reach $5.4B in 2022, down 12% from last year
