"From O2O to Smart Kitchen and Alternative Foods" The Food Startup Sprint Has Begun

Over 1,000 Domestic Food Tech Companies
Number of Firms Growing with Untact Trend...Active Investment from Large Corporations

'Cookat Market' products offered as special sale and event items on Jam Live

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Saeng-hye] Kukcat, a food company operating 'What’s for Dinner?', the largest domestic cooking video sharing social network service (SNS), is expanding its business into online and offline food sales, fueled by the popularity of its creative cooking videos. Although it was a startup in its seventh year and had recorded losses until last year, it posted sales of 9.8 billion KRW in the first quarter of this year, growing 3.3 times compared to the previous year. This is a result of the spread of the untact (contactless) trend due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Loyal subscribers have emerged on SNS in 70 countries worldwide, and overseas expansion to countries such as Vietnam is also underway.

#Devotion Food, established in October 2018, is a promising startup highly regarded for its alternative meat technology. It has succeeded in developing alternative meat that is almost indistinguishable from real meat using its own technology. Not only does it have a taste and aroma similar to real meat, but it also exhibits browning when heated and releases juices and oils just like real meat. With its unique alternative meat technology, it succeeded in partnering with major domestic companies such as CJ and GS Retail within two years and plans to enter the UK, where vegan culture is active, in 2022.

Seizing the 200 trillion KRW Food Tech Market= According to industry sources on the 18th, interest in food tech and food startups has surged recently, leading to a rapid increase in the number of companies and investments. While IT has dominated most startup sectors in the past, food startups are based on the essential element of 'food,' which has high demand and an extremely fast growth rate compared to IT.

The global food tech market is estimated to be worth about 200 trillion KRW. In the US, two of the top ten unicorn startups with market capitalizations exceeding 1 billion USD are food tech companies. According to the Korea Food Tech Association, there are already about 1,000 food tech companies in Korea. The government is also supporting food startups. About 36 related venture companies are housed in the national food cluster 'Foodpolis' located in Jeonbuk. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs provides technology development support and consulting for food startups, including new product development and resolving production site technical difficulties.

Soaring with COVID-19 and Untact Trends= As COVID-19 became widespread, the growth momentum of food startups intensified. Market Kurly, a dawn delivery company launched in 2015, saw its transaction volume double last year due to increased untact consumption. As of last month, Market Kurly’s cumulative payment amount was 574.6 billion KRW. This year, it is expected to achieve high growth after receiving the largest startup investment of 200 billion KRW. Fresh Easy, established in 2016 and rising to the top of the meal kit industry within four years, is expected to reach sales of 170 billion KRW this year, more than doubling from 71.1 billion KRW last year.

Korea Yakult has launched a platform business collaboration with Wadiz to support startup growth.

Major Food Companies Collaborate with Startups= Major food and beverage companies are also competing to discover and nurture startups for future food sources. Hite Jinro signed contracts with four startups throughout this year after being selected as a 'corporate angel investor' in October last year. Nongshim, after investing in three external startups for the first time in the food industry in 2018, recently decided to invest about 100 million KRW each in three startups through its second startup investment recruitment.

Investments in domestic and overseas startups are also active. Dongwon Industries signed a share investment agreement with Norwegian salmon farming startup Salmon Evolution at the end of July. The investment amount is about 6.5 billion KRW, representing about 10% of Salmon Evolution’s shares. Pulmuone signed a business agreement on 'cell-cultured seafood business' with US startup BlueNalu, which produces seafood by culturing fish cells, in early July. BlueNalu, founded in 2018 in San Diego, California, USA, plans to collaborate with Pulmuone to launch cell-cultured seafood domestically.

Korea Yakult is fostering food tech startups in partnership with crowdfunding company Wadiz. Most companies in Wadiz’s food category are newly established startups or small and medium-sized farms. Korea Yakult supports startups’ service launches and distribution based on its 51 years of food and beverage manufacturing and distribution know-how. Wadiz provides a funding platform to introduce new products.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.