Top 50 Retail Startup Investors in South Korea in May 2026

Portfolio highlights

• Pay Months — Korean Buy Now Pay Later(BNPL) fintech startup that solves financing problems in e-Commerce
• Unastella — Unastella operates its own launch vehicles to provide human space travel platform services.
• UModeler — UModeler is a Unity3D editor extension to empower you to designer your level and mesh without leaving Unity.

Portfolio highlights

• Nex Eye — Nex Eye is a start-up that develops first-in-class antibodies targeting refractory factors of immuno-oncology drugs.
• Rentree — Rentree is a data-driven lifestyle rental product recommendation service.
• Illimis Therapeutics — We translate cutting-edge science into innovative medicine

Portfolio highlights

• Crosshub — Crosshub is a fast-growing blockchain-based company focused on next-generation identity authentication and global payment solutions, gaining attention as a key deep-tech fintech player in the domestic market.
• Unit Lab — "Unitlab is an innovative company that offers a comprehensive, integrated platform for modular architecture, streamlining every stage of the building process—from initial planning and design to final construction.
• Driving Teacher — You may search and compare the pricing of all driving schools countrywide in Driving Teacher, and you can help students make real-time training reservations with just a few clicks without connecting to a counselor. Furthermore, it provides an online reservation management platform to driving schools in order to automate the driving school system,as well as sales growth through customized marketing.

Portfolio highlights

• Rovigos — Rovigos analyzes data from your whole business to help you make better forecasts and choices.
• Welfare Union — Welfare Union focused on customized senior care meals and nutritional services.
• Phyto Research — Phyto Research offers virus-free, high-quality seedlings as OEM through tissue culture and seed manufacturing.

Portfolio highlights

• Mycel — IMAGINATION TRANSITION REGENERATION
• Habit Factory — Habit Factory provides financial big data analytics solutions.
• Korea Deep Learning — Korea Deep Learning is an artificial intelligence technology company that offers OCR, analytics, and 3D DX solutions.

Portfolio highlights

• GrowingMom — GrowingMom is an online parenting consultation/analysis platform.
• Power Player — Natural Clean Beauty
• KOOZA — KOOZA is a kitchenware brand that offers cookware and household goods and supplies them to department stores, and live commerce companies.

Portfolio highlights

• GREENDA — GREENDA is a bio-aviation oil and gas raw material manufacturing company.
• LNPsolution — LNPsolution is a cutting-edge biotechnology company specializing in AI-based new drug development, utilizing advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to accelerate drug discovery, optimize compound screening, and reduce the time and cost traditionally associated with pharmaceutical research and development.
• ICU Corporation — ICU Corporation offers skilled and high-level optics from opticians with master's and doctoral degrees in optics, ensuring ease and sharp vision, which is the essence of glasses.

Portfolio highlights

• KB-Element — KB-Element is a graphene development and production company that also turns graphene into intermediate items and novel materials.
• Avelos Therapeutics — Avelos Therapeutics is a precision medicine company in the clinical stage that finds, creates, and sells targeted therapeutics.
• DewCell — Dewcell Biotherapeutics develops synthetic platelets using biomimetic technology. The company's system secures stem cell differentiation technology into megakaryocytes that generate platelets and mass-produces artificial platelets.

Portfolio highlights

• H2 — H2 is a Korea-based advanced energy storage company specialized in vanadium redox flow battery which is an optimal solution especially for large-scale and long-duration energy storage. H2 has developed cutting-edge EnerFLOW series energy storage using its own vanadium redox flow batteries, which is commercially available at the moment. H2 isexpected to grow fast and big due to H2's unique design and manufacturing capabilities, and a promising market of large-scale energy storage.
• Seadronix — Seadronix is a AI technology-based autonomous navigation solutions developed by PhD researchers. It saves cost and secures safety based on various learning data.
• BRUSH Theatre — BRUSH Theatre is a theatre for live performances.

Portfolio highlights

• PRTN — PRTN is the company that owns and operates Proteinner, a high-protein fast food brand focused on delivering convenient, nutritious meals designed to support active and health-conscious lifestyles.
• Money Walk — The step-counting app that rewards you with cash for every step
• Cuckoo — Cuckoo is an always-available, in-house realtime translator. Cuckoo instantly learns the technical details of your conversation from your keywords and documents and interprets into over 20 languages—customized for your specific industry and organization. Global teams like Snowflake, PagerDuty, Weights & Biases, dbt Labs, and SeAH rely onCuckoo for multilingual meetings, events, business trips, and more.

Portfolio highlights

• Bakatio — Bakatio enables accommodation providers to perform direct transactions on social media without using a platform.
• Modhaus — Modhaus is a K-pop startup which aims to create the world's first open architecture entertainment ecosystem.
• Market Stadium — Market Stadium combines Real Estate Data and Urban Intelligence to optimize multifamily and single-family market research for commercial real estate investors

Portfolio highlights

• Oncosoft — Oncosoft develops software solutions with a focus on anti-cancer treatment. Their offerings include an Oncology Information Management Solution (OIMS) and artificial intelligence-based technologies for radiologists. The software aids in the detection of cancer, contributing to the medical community's efforts in precision cancer therapy.
• StudioBside — StudioBside is a mobile game developer based in Korea.
• Beyond Honeycomb — Beyond Honeycomb is a food-tech company developing an AI-driven kitchen robot solution. Our AI Chef reproduces the texture and taste of the world-class chef’s dish at the molecular level.

Portfolio highlights

• FREECO — FREECO is a content provider for businesses. Consultation, sales, and software development and supply Cosmetics wholesale and retail business Marketing consulting and advertising business.
• Two Slash For — Two Slash For is a beauty brand.
• Medistream — Medistream operates an integrated platform for oriental medicine.

Portfolio highlights

• Jaranda — One-on-one child-oriented play sitter / learning sheeter for working parents and children's happiness.
• Semonyeo — Semonyeo is a senior lifestyle brand dedicated to enhancing the dining experience of older adults. The company designs, develops, and sells specialized tableware tailored to the unique needs of seniors, focusing on comfort, safety, and ease of use.
• H Charging Research Institute — H Charging Research Institute is an electric vehicle company. Aside from fire prevention and PNC (Plug & Charge) charging services, the company plans to build a V2G power business using electric vehicles by using advanced charging technology. The company distributes PLC-embedded charger H chargers to the market and diversifies futurebusinesses, including V2G, in order to create the future of electric vehicle charging.

Portfolio highlights

• Kueski — Kueski is the online lender for the Middle Class of Mexico and Latin America. The company uses big data and advanced analytics to approve and deliver loans in a matter of minutes. Simple, paperless and available 24/7, Kueski is the most convenient lending platform for those who need an immediate loan. The company has become the fastest growingplatform of its kind in the region and has already granted thousands of loans.
• Testlio — Tackle the most demanding software testing challenges with Testlio in any location, on any device, in any language, or on any payment system.
• Lendit — Lendit is the leading personal loan oriented marketplace lending company in Korea that operates fully online and manages a marketplace platform where investors can provide capital to people seeking loans. Through our advanced risk ranking algorithm and cost- effective operational process, borrowers can access to an appealing interest rate andinvestors can enjoy ‘high and stable’ yield. We offer borrowers an APR between 4.5% and 18.0%, and investors an average return of 10.66%. By transforming the traditional banking system, we aim to help both borrowers and investors to achieve financial goals.

Portfolio highlights

• Nex Eye — Nex Eye is a start-up that develops first-in-class antibodies targeting refractory factors of immuno-oncology drugs.
• DOD — DOD is data-driven musical business platform.
• ProtoPie — Prototyping interactions as easy as pie ProtoPie is an easy but powerful software that allows designers and engineers to plan, communicate, and demonstrate an interactive mobile product. Build a sophisticated prototype without any coding, but leveraging all the native mobile device features. The powerful capabilities are already recognized andadopted by the global top brands and such as Google, Microsoft, R/GA, and Ideo.

Portfolio highlights

• Dentlink — Next Generation Dental Lab Service
• Purple AI — Purple AI is a brain disease AI platform company.
• My Herb & Healthcare — MyHerb Healthcare proivdes a specialized analysis for nutritional supplements.

Portfolio highlights

• LumanLab — LumanLab develops digital therapeutics to solve developmental delay problems.
• Ohouse — No.1 Interior Onestop Platform
• Pure Harvest Smart Farms — Pure Harvest Smart Farms is a regional innovator in sustainable agriculture focused on the production of premium fruits and vegetables in the challenging climates of the Arab Gulf region using world-leading controlled-environment agriculture technologies. Pure Harvest seeks to leverage innovative growing technologies and horticultural bestpractices in order to pioneer year-round production of affordable, premium quality fresh produce.

Portfolio highlights

• AIMMO — AIMMO is the developer of a data annotation platform with custom workflow designs, labeler analytics, and real-time communication functions. The company was founded in 2016 by SeungTaek Oh and is headquartered in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea.
• AIMEDBIO — AIMEDBIO provides therapeutic solutions to patients with serious brain diseases.
• Graphene Square — Graphene Square is a pioneer in the commercialization of graphene material and graphene films for use as a transparent conductor and in other electronics applications. Established as a spin-off of the research of Prof. Byung Hee Hong at Seoul National University and with headquarters in Seoul, Korea. Graphene Square will continue to stay as theworld leader of the graphene commercialization research, also will continue to provide the best quality graphene and equipment to all over the world for the continuous development of carbon and 2D materials for the bright future of the science and technology for mankind.

Portfolio highlights

• ENERZAi — As your AI catalyst, we are dedicated to spearheading an AI breakthrough with our cutting-edge AI optimization technology.
• Raywatt — Raywatt is a startup that develops medical devices for cardiovascular interventions.
• Studio Lab — Studio Lab offers artificial intelligence technology for the fashion industry.

Portfolio highlights

• Modhaus — Modhaus is a K-pop startup which aims to create the world's first open architecture entertainment ecosystem.
• Beyond Honeycomb — Beyond Honeycomb is a food-tech company developing an AI-driven kitchen robot solution. Our AI Chef reproduces the texture and taste of the world-class chef’s dish at the molecular level.
• Illimis Therapeutics — We translate cutting-edge science into innovative medicine

Portfolio highlights

• Podonos — Podonos evaluates the effectiveness and performance of AI models for speech and audio. You get the evaluation result within 12 hours from global evaluators.
• Risorious — Risorious provide clear guidelines for prescribing neuropsychiatric drugs.
• K-Work Partners — K-Work Partners provide comprehensive living support services essential to foreign workers in Korea.

Portfolio highlights

• Aberra — Aberra is using "Dister," an AI data analysis tool, to optimize sales for Coupang, one of South Korea's largest e-commerce platforms.
• Brave Company — Brave Company is an internet publishing company. Well, the lusts, but not the burdens of the ZZP existence. BraveCompany is for self-employed people who want to do more and manage less. Are you in paid employment and do you doubt whether you dare to make the leap? Even then, BraveCompany offers a warm bath with 'colleagues' that you havegone for, a network with potential assignments and invoicing services. BraveCompany is for successful professionals who are or want to become independent. What can we mean for each other? We share knowledge, trends and help with professional issues. And all that in the atmosphere of a home port. So you benefit from the benefits of experienced colleagues. Do you see any more possibilities with your current client to do work, or do you regularly refer projects to colleagues? We offer the framework to seize these opportunities and also be rewarded for your talent as a matchmaker.
• Wrtn Technologies — Bring AGI Close to People

Portfolio highlights

• Acon3D — Digital Asset Store. Use brushes, 3D backgrounds & animated deformes for all creative fields!
• Coxwave — Coxwave provides product analytics and observability for AI applications. The Skylight platform instruments LLM prompts, responses, context, and user interactions via SDKs and ingestion APIs. It aggregates metrics such as quality, latency, token usage, and cost, and presents dashboards to monitor trends and detect regressions. Teams use it tocollect human feedback, build evaluation datasets, and compare prompt or model variants before and after releases. Tracing links events across sessions and workflows, helping correlate outcomes with inputs and application state. Integrations connect to common LLM providers, orchestration frameworks, and data pipelines, allowing data to flow into existing analytics stacks and workflows.
• Habit Factory — Habit Factory provides financial big data analytics solutions.

Portfolio highlights

• AutoHands — AutoHands is a South Korea-based mobility company that offers comprehensive integrated mobility services including vehicle buying and selling, management, online used-car auctions, car rentals, extended warranties, residual value guarantees, mobile maintenance, and accident compensation programs.
• Ride — RideNow: An app-based platform for test drives and vehicle purchases. RideCare: App-based B2B and B2C vehicle care services. RideContents: Educational services for automotive brands, aimed at enhancing the quality of manufacturers and importers. RideOn: After-sales management services for electric vehicle chargers.
• Rootfinders — RouteFinders develops an AI-based media platform to support independent living for visually impaired individuals in an increasingly digital world.

Portfolio highlights

• LumanLab — LumanLab develops digital therapeutics to solve developmental delay problems.
• Enlivex Therapeutics — Enlivex is a clinical-stage macrophage reprogramming immunotherapy company that targets diseased macrophages in patients with sepsis. The company develops an autologous and allogeneic drug pipeline for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory conditions such as Graft versus Host Disease (GvHD), solid organ transplant rejection, Crohn'sDisease, and other autoimmune and inflammatory disorders.The company's revolutionary approach is to induce immune tolerance by injecting apoptotic cells and facilitating their interaction with dendritic cells activates the body's innate, physiologic mechanism for down-regulating inflammation and autoimmunity.Enlivex is an Israeli-based cell immunotherapy company established in October 2005 by Professor Dror Mevorach, a world-renowned expert on clearance of dying (apoptotic) cells.
• Animoca Brands — Animoca Brands is a metaverse and gaming venture capital firm that focuses on driving digital property rights to gamers and internet users through NFTs. It utilizes gamification and blockchain to develop and market a portfolio of mobile applications, games, and additional products oriented to educational learning to ensure transparency, security,and new business models.

Portfolio highlights

• Robros — Robros is constantly creating technology to break through the barrier between people and robots in order to build a world in which everyone in the service industry can live a physically and emotionally happy life.
• Big Value — Big Value is a price analysis for multiplex houses.
• MediQStar — MediQStar is a startup developing a generative AI

Portfolio highlights

• QMIT — QMIT provides coaching includes nutrition, mental management, and career counseling.
• Hutom — Reshaping Surgery Through Digital Innovation
• Body Cherish — Body Cherish installs and maintains vending machines.

Portfolio highlights

• Charan — Charan is an operator of an e-commerce platform intended to sell second-hand fashion apparel.
• Eridu — Eridu is the pioneer advancing the frontier in AI networking, breaking through the network wall with a solution built from the ground up for scale-out and scale-up networks in AI data centers. Eridu’s network switch delivers the order-of-magnitude advance in performance, radix and throughput needed to maximize utilization, throughput andefficiency in AI clusters and data centers. Founded by a team of accomplished technology and business innovators and backed by leading investors with over $200M in funding to date, Eridu is solving the network bottlenecks throttling AI.
• Law&Company — {{ metaDescription }}

Portfolio highlights

• Paywork — PayWal is a payment platform that provides dedicated project teaming, task execution checks, and contract management services.
• Retentics — Maximize repeat purchases with targeted user segmentation and dynamic product recommendation at Retentics, powered by AI
• Exosphere Labs — Exosphere Labs is an information technology company that offers information security services.

Portfolio highlights

• Aldavar — ALDAVER provides incredibly realistic personalized surgical training models using innovative biopolymer materials that closely resemble human tissues and 3D printing technology.
• Ugly Lab — Ugly Lab is a waste-tech startup that provides subscription-based waste collection services and consulting.
• H Energy — H Energy provides optimal operation of distributed resources and power brokerage services.

Portfolio highlights

• Trustay — Trustay is a real estate asset management company.
• Kimu Studio — Kimu discovers servant artists, plans education and exhibitions with the artist's unique sensibility.
• Kuntian New Energy — Hebei Kuntian New Energy is a producer of anode materials for lithium-ion batteries.

Portfolio highlights

• DSRV — DSRV, a leading blockchain infrastructure company, offers A-Z solutions across the entire ecosystem for 160+ institutions through vertical integration of technologies such as staking, custody, and validators.
• Hutom — Reshaping Surgery Through Digital Innovation
• Soft Berry — Soft Berry is an electric vehicle charging platform.

Portfolio highlights

• Grabr — Grabr is a global community marketplace that allows people to get unique or hard-to-find items from around the world by connecting them with travelers headed their way. Grabr is the safe, fast and friendly way to get anything from anywhere in the world and earn money on the road.
• PayJoy — Looking for a phone or a cash loan? PayJoy gives you credit with few requirements and in minutes. No late fees charged.
• Minitap — Minitap is an AI-driven mobile development company that assists with monitoring mobile devices.

Portfolio highlights

• Biocom — Biocom is a green bio management company.
• Groupware Pro — Groupware Pro is a business management company that provides software for groupware communication solution.
• The Blessed Moon — The Blessed Moon is a cosmetics brand that sells and offers skin, face, hair, and body care products.

Portfolio highlights

• Pep — Pep focuses on the hybrid casual genre, which combines straightforward gameplay with growth factors to increase in-app advertising.
• Spaceport Technologies — Accelerating the growth of the next digital economy
• Low Observable Technology — Low Observable Technology delivers solutions in digital asset trading infrastructure, specializing in market making and liquidity provision. The firm also develops stealth technologies for defense applications, focusing on electronic countermeasures and low observability systems critical to undetectable aircraft missions.

Portfolio highlights

• Pluto — Pluto provides a SaaS solution that includes both discovery and academic search engines customized for the institution.
• Green Dot — Green Dot runs an E-MaaS (Energy-Mobiliy as a Service) platform, which integrates mobility and energy. Since its inception, the service has drawn attention due to its rapid construction of Green Dot Zones, which provide energy and transportation All-in-One services in the heart of Seoul and the metropolitan area.
• Thermo Lab Korea — Thermo Lab korea supplies eco-friendly packaging optimized for the cold chain to customers.

Portfolio highlights

• ASWEMAKE — ASWEMAKE is a shopping app that delivers groceries.
• CastingN — CastingN is a B2B trading platform that helps companies outsource.
• Glovv — Glovv is a short-form beauty content development platform.

Portfolio highlights

• Balo — Balo is the on-demand platform powered by the Top 1% of Salesforce Experts globally. Get immediate hands-on support for any Salesforce needs.
• Voltrac — Voltrac is a robotics company that develops an autonomous, fully electric tractor platform called THOR, designed to operate in demanding environments for both agricultural and logistics use. THOR employs per-wheel electric motors instead of a conventional drivetrain, reducing mechanical complexity and maintenance requirements. It runs on swappable200 kWh battery packs, enabling long-duration operations and continuous work cycles. The platform supports a standard three-point hitch (Category II) and can be configured with a flatbed, making it versatile for fieldwork or transport tasks. Voltrac’s autonomy system combines reinforcement learning with real-time sensor data to adapt driving behavior and implements to changing terrain and crop conditions. Beyond farming, THOR is also intended for frontline logistics missions, with modular designs that can support cargo transport and resilience in challenging settings.
• ROLO Robotics — ROLO Robotics is rethinking the kitchens of the future using robotics and automation.

Portfolio highlights

• Posh — Event marketing made easy.
• Zepto — India's fastest grocery delivery service.
• Payhere — Payhere is a fintech company that provides card terminals and online payment gateway services for multiple industries.

Portfolio highlights

• Qunova Computing, Inc. — Quantum computing based computing innovations for new materials and drug discovery, and advanced technology solution consulting services.
• FuriosaAI — FuriosaAI develops system semiconductors optimized for AI, enabling efficient processing of large amounts of data in a short period of time.
• Law&Company — {{ metaDescription }}

Portfolio highlights

• Ucube — Ucube is an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) specialist company that is actively accelerating its preparations for a public listing. The company is undergoing a series of strategic initiatives, such as refining its financial operations, enhancing its product offerings, and aligning its corporate structure to meet the regulatory andmarket demands necessary for a successful initial public offering (IPO).
• AutoHands — AutoHands is a South Korea-based mobility company that offers comprehensive integrated mobility services including vehicle buying and selling, management, online used-car auctions, car rentals, extended warranties, residual value guarantees, mobile maintenance, and accident compensation programs.
• HydroXpand — HydroXpand is an innovative developer and manufacturer specializing in the design and production of anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolysis stacks, which are key components in the efficient and sustainable production of hydrogen through water electrolysis.

Portfolio highlights

• Bind — Bind is a start-up that operates the mobile and PC version of 'Athler'.
• Doers — Doers is an influencer commerce platform that offers several services for connecting influencers and companies.
• Driving Teacher — You may search and compare the pricing of all driving schools countrywide in Driving Teacher, and you can help students make real-time training reservations with just a few clicks without connecting to a counselor. Furthermore, it provides an online reservation management platform to driving schools in order to automate the driving school system,as well as sales growth through customized marketing.

Portfolio highlights

• ActionFit — ActionFit is a video game company with expertise in developing and publishing video games for the mobile platform.
• Korea Deep Learning — Korea Deep Learning is an artificial intelligence technology company that offers OCR, analytics, and 3D DX solutions.
• Coreshell Technologies — Battery Capacity Unlocked

Portfolio highlights

• Inter X — Inter X is an industrial AI and big data analysis company.
• RideFlux — RideFlux is a self-driving software company for safe and reliable autonomous transporation service. Since our foundation in 2018, we hope for a better world where everyone can be safer and more comfortable while moving with our self-driving cars and software. We believe in the potential that self-driving technology embraces, how driving canbecome an innovative experience not a mere stress, which inspires us to build up its future with every step on our way.Our headquarter is located in Jeju island, one of the best test-beds in the world for developing reliable AD software technologies. It has a variety of road environments and various weather conditions across the island (1850 square kilometers), and significantly high demands for mobility service (16 million visitors a year without bring own vehicles). We are strategically located for technology enhancement for reliable urban autonomy. For the Safety, Beyond the Safety.
• ADRO — Aerodynamic Development Race Optimization (ADRO) manufactures high-quality aerodynamic body kits, including carbon fiber front lips, side skirts, rear diffusers, spoilers, and widebody kits.

Portfolio highlights

• PRTN — PRTN is the company that owns and operates Proteinner, a high-protein fast food brand focused on delivering convenient, nutritious meals designed to support active and health-conscious lifestyles.
• Zimlala — Zimlala is a logistics company that specializes in relocation and cargo services.
• Veramore — Veramore is an online store that sells a wide range of beauty and cosmetic products.

Portfolio highlights

• Deskera — All In One Business Software with Accounting, Inventory, CRM, Payroll and HRMS.
• NXN Labs — The Digital Production OS for Modern Commerce
• Ohouse — No.1 Interior Onestop Platform

Portfolio highlights

• AiderX — AiderX is a technology startup that creates AI assistants for everyone. We believe that AI should be available to everyone and that it has the potential to change the way we live and work. Our goal is to make AI simple, intuitive, and simple to use.
• Yeoshin — Yeoshin is a skin treatment information platform.
• Habit Factory — Habit Factory provides financial big data analytics solutions.

Portfolio highlights

• NEWEN AI — RSN provides solutions that analyze changes in social awareness and trends in the flow of digital information and suggest their meaning.
• MobilTech — MobilTech is an AI-based 3D GIS startup company that supplies 3D spatial information, hardware, and software solutions for smart cities.
• De novo Biotherapeutics — De novo Biotherapeutics is a biotechnology company developing mRNA-encoded antibodies and NK cell-engaging antibodies for cancer treatment.

Portfolio highlights

• ActionFit — ActionFit is a video game company with expertise in developing and publishing video games for the mobile platform.
• SCBIO — SCBIO is a pharmaceutical company that makes drugs with specialized technologies in immuno-oncology. The company discovers and develops novel therapeutics for future medicine.
• Habit Factory — Habit Factory provides financial big data analytics solutions.