Which Startups Have Been Selected by Leading Domestic Investors for Their 'Differentiated Services'?

Monthly Kitchen Completes 23 Billion KRW Series B Funding
Uprise Expected to Grow as a New Asset Management Company
Coding Education Team Sparta Sales Increase 500% Year-on-Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] Startups invested in by leading domestic venture capital (VC) firms such as DS Asset Management and KTB Network have hit the jackpot, drawing increased attention to the companies they have recently invested in.

DS Asset Management has invested in Woowa Brothers, Zigbang, Market Kurly, and others. It invested 7 billion KRW in Pearl Abyss and recovered 24.3 billion KRW, achieving an investment return rate of 247.73%. KTB Network also posted strong results by investing in Viva Republica (Toss), StyleShare, and others.

Monthly Kitchen, which operates the digital dining platform 'Monki,' has completed a Series B funding round worth 23 billion KRW. Existing financial investor DS Asset Management and strategic investor Humax followed up their Series A investments with additional funding, and Shinhan Venture Investment joined as a new investor. Monki attracted investors' attention for developing smart dining solutions accessible to all food service operators.

A representative from DS Asset Management said, "The dining industry still shows very traditional operational forms and lacks digitalization and smartization. If Monki solves these problems, it could become an outstanding platform."

Monkey Application

Uprise, a fintech company established with the vision of popularizing investment and asset management, raised 24 billion KRW in a Series C funding round. Uprise offers digital asset wealth management service 'Heybit' and global ETF automatic investment service 'Iruda Investment.'

This round was led by KTB Network, with Capstone Partners and Seoul Investment Partners joining as new investors, and existing investor Kakao Ventures participating. With the institutionalization of digital assets and the popularization of robo-advisors underway, expectations for Uprise's growth are high.

Lim Dong-hyun, Executive Director of KTB Network, stated, "Uprise combines the profitability of digital assets (Heybit) with the scalability of traditional institutional finance (Iruda Investment), overcoming the limitations of existing asset management and is expected to grow into a new asset management company."

Team Sparta, which operates coding education services, secured 13 billion KRW in Series A funding from KB Investment, DS Asset Management, Smilegate Investment, and others.

Since launching 'Sparta Coding Club' in April 2019, Team Sparta has consistently generated net profits and operates developer training bootcamp 'Hanghae99' and office worker startup bootcamp '{Chang}'. Last year's sales reached 10.5 billion KRW, a more than 500% increase compared to 2.1 billion KRW in 2020.

Ji-ae Lee, Managing Director at KB Investment, said, "I was captivated by their vision to contribute a greater role across the entire Fourth Industrial Revolution, not just as a simple coding education company. I look forward to what Team Sparta will accomplish in the future."

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