South Korea is becoming a hotbed of big technology startups. 'Investors overlooked Korea because they think it's just a small country,' says one venture capitalist.
New businesses are emerging in areas such as biotechnology, ride-hailing and online payments, and South Korea now has 10 unicorns, or young private companies worth more than $1 billion, according to CB Insights. That makes it the third-largest hub for such companies in the Asia-Pacific region, after the far more populous China and India.. It had a market value of about $69 billion as of Tuesday, according to FactSet. Videogame developer Krafton Inc.
The rise of these stand-alone businesses is notable in an economy long dominated by sprawling family-owned conglomerates. These groups, known as, have produced some of South Korea’s most notable tech businesses, such as Samsung Electronics Co . and SK Hynix Inc . , which are heavyweights in areas such as smartphones and semiconductors.
Bankers, investors and entrepreneurs say a few characteristics have helped South Korean startups thrive. The country has an affluent, tech-savvy population that is mostly squeezed into a few big cities, where superfast mobile broadband is widespread. South Korea has a