Mise-en-scène

Korean games Krafton buys India’s Nautilus Mobile, fueling IP race in Korean game scene

Krafton Inc., one of South Korea’s top four market-cap gaming firms, has taken over Indian game developer Nautilus Mobile for $14 million, upp...

Korean startups Two out of 5 CEOs hold negative views on Korean startup scene

Nearly half of South Korean startups hold negative views on the country’s startup ecosystem, citing the prolonged startup funding winter and t...

Chemical Industry LG Chem emerges as global No. 4 chemicals maker: C&EN

South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd. has emerged as the world’s fourth chemicals producer, the second Asian company to be among the five largest a...

Artificial intelligence SK Networks invests $19 mn in AI startup Upstage

South Korea's SK Networks Co. announced on Friday that it has invested 25 billion won ($19.02 million) in the domestic artificial intelligence (AI...

Korean food Korean chicken chains accelerate overseas expansion

South Korean chicken chains are accelerating their overseas expansion, driven by a saturated domestic market and the growing popularity of the Korea...

Mergers & Acquisitions SK Networks completes acquisition of en-core

South Korean trading firm SK Networks Co. announced on Friday that it has completed the acquisition process of en-core, a leading data solutions and...

Mergers & Acquisitions SK Networks to acquire data management company en-core

SK Networks Co., a South Korean trading company, will acquire en-core, a data solutions and consulting firm. The strategy is aimed at strengthening ...

Tech, Media & Telecom LG Group seeks new partners in Silicon Valley’s startup scene

South Korea’s LG Group seeks new partnerships with global ventures to strengthen its new growth engines, such as batteries, biopharmaceuticals...

Food & Beverage Craft brewery startups poised to revolutionize brew scene in South Korea

Craft beers and highballs from emerging breweries and distilleries are poised to disturb the South Korean alcoholic beverage market dominated by gia...

Sports Another Foreigner Detained in China, This Time a Korean Soccer Pro

SINGAPORE—Chinese police have detained a South Korean soccer player on allegations of bribery, the latest in a spate of enforcement actions af...

Artificial intelligence Kakao Brain presents text-based AI motion generation model

On Tuesday, Kakao Brain, the AI unit of South Korea's Kakao Corp., announced the development of a new text-based motion generation model, called "FL...

Korean startups Translink: Startup fundraising barely affected by economic downturn

Venture capital, or the business of investing in innovative private companies with growth potential, is a local endeavor most of the time.While this...

Venture capital Blurring lines between accelerators and VCs with record fundings

Sopoong Ventures Corp. is poised to create a fund worth 10 billion won ($8 million) that specializes in early stage investment, industry insiders sa...

Entertainment Behind the scenes of CJ's $775 mn Endeavor Content purchase

CJ ENM Co., the producer of the Oscar-winning "Parasite", was the only South Korean company among a few entertainment powerhouses and investment fir...

Korean startups Music copyright trading platform Musicow revitalizes Korea’s startup scene

“Music becomes Cashcow” is the slogan for Korea’s hottest startup of the year, Musicow, Inc., and cash cow it has been. Indus...

Entertainment Naver bets on SoftBank's e-book company to reclaim lead in Japan

South Korea’s major portal operator Naver Corp. is looking to firm up its partnership with SoftBank Group Corp. and increase its presence in J...

Mergers & Acquisitions Behind the scenes of DL Chemical’s unexpected $2.5 bn Kraton purchase

When DL Chemical Co. announced its $2.5 billion acquisition of US chemical manufacturer Kraton Corp. on Monday, it left many people bewildered.The a...

Retail StockX enters Korea's resale market, poses threat to domestic platforms

The rapid growth of the resale scene in South Korea has driven the world’s No. 1 resale platform, StockX, to venture into the country, signali...

E-commerce Amazon Global Store shakes up S.Korea’s e-commerce scene

Amazon Global Store posted a stellar first-week performance in South Korea. The service, launched at the end of August on SK Telecom Co.’s onl...

Mergers & Acquisitions Behind the scenes of GS-led group's $1.5 bn Hugel purchase

South Korea's energy-to-construction conglomerate GS Group was not considered a serious bidder when it entered the race for a 46.9% stake in the cou...

IPOs 7brau becomes Korea's second craft brewery en route to IPO

South Korea-based Seven Brau Co., or 7brau, is poised to become the country's second craft brewery to make a trading debut, following the footsteps ...

Blockchain Samsung Next ramps up investment in NFT ventures

Samsung Electronics Co. is betting big on non-fungible token (NFT) companies through its venture capital unit Samsung Next, headquartered in Mountai...

Fintech Toss en route to being Korea’s first fintech decacorn; valuation tops $7 bn

South Korea-based mobile financial platform Toss is en route to becoming the country's first fintech decacorn, or a company valued at over $10 billi...

The Deep Dive The butterfly effect: How the W Concept takeover stirred up Korea's fashion industry

“Just give us three weeks. We’ll offer a price by then.”This conversation took place in early March. A senior executive from retai...

IPOs Why fast-growing coffee chains fail to get listed in Korea

A Twosome Place has scrapped its initial public offering plans after being touted as the country’s first coffee chain to go public. This has r...

Banking & Finance Hana Financial partners with Line to launch digital bank in Indonesia

Naver Corp.’s Japan-based messaging app affiliate Line Corp. is rapidly expanding its digital banking business in Asian countries outside Kore...

IPOs DONT PUBLISH/EDIT ONLY: FiscalNote en route to US listing; valuation to reach $2 bn

FiscalNote, a Washington D.C.-based tech firm that uses artificial intelligence and big data to track, predict and analyze regulations and legislati...

Tech, Media & Telecom YouTube enters K-pop streaming scene; competition heats up

Google Inc., the operator of the world’s largest streaming platform YouTube, has entered the growing local online concert scene, heralding fie...

Mergers & Acquisitions Behind the scenes of Naver’s $600 mn Wattpad purchase

Last August, online portal Naver Corp. entered into exclusive talks with Toronto-based Wattpad Corp. to buy a stake in the world’s largest web...