FundedIQ holds 275 funded startups in South Korea and keeps their funding rounds, amounts, investors, industries, locations and company details up to date. This page provides an overview of the startup funding landscape in South Korea, along with the 100 most recently funded startups in the country.
The median disclosed round is $4.5M, with the middle half of rounds falling between $1.7M and $11M. Artificial Intelligence, Manufacturing and Biotechnology hold the most companies by sector. Seoul and Seongnam hold the deepest concentrations of funded startups in the country. Startups in South Korea closed 277 funding rounds over the last 24 months, 277 of them in the last 12 months, and raised $2.9B in disclosed capital.
Government backed capital via the TIPS Program dominates the funding mix, which creates a high barrier for outsiders. Private activity from Kakao Ventures and Korea Development Bank emphasizes a preference for AI and Manufacturing. Those targeting Seoul or Seongnam must account for this heavy state influence. This structure favors deep tech and Biotechnology over pure consumer plays.
South Korea funded startup statistics
Funded startups in South Korea
275
tracked in the database
Funding rounds, last 12 months
277
277 over 24 months
Disclosed capital raised, 24 months
$2.9B
148 of 277 rounds disclosed an amount
Median round size
$4.5M
middle half $1.7M to $11M
Most recent funding round on record: Aug 2026.
Investors appearing most often across South Korea funding rounds: TIPS Program, Kakao Ventures, Korea Development Bank, CNTTECH, Smilegate Investment.
100 most recently funded startups in South Korea
100 of 275
Ordered by the date of the latest funding round. Each row gives the company, its
location and industry, what it does, the stage and date of that round, and the disclosed
amount.
Seoul, South Korea · Artificial Intelligence (AI), Clinical Trials, Data Collection and Labeling, Data Management, Health Care, Machine Learning, Medical, Medical Device
mediworkAI provides a clinician-driven medical AI data and MLOps platform for annotation and validation.
Series Unknown·
Undisclosed
I
IPIA
Seongnam, South Korea
IPIA is an AI-based web story genre based on its generative AI technology.
Startups in South Korea closed 277 funding rounds over the last 24 months, 277 of them in the last 12, adding up to $2.9B in disclosed capital.
Round sizes
The median disclosed round is $4.5M, with the middle half running from $1.7M to $11M. 148 of 277 rounds disclosed an amount.
Sectors
Artificial Intelligence, Manufacturing and Biotechnology hold the most companies, led by Artificial Intelligence at 74. The most common headcount band across the segment is 11-50.
Investors
TIPS Program, Kakao Ventures and Korea Development Bank appear most often across funded startups in South Korea on record.
Industries with the most funded startups in South Korea
Sector counts across all 275 tracked companies in South Korea. A company assigned more than one industry is counted in each.
The investors named most often across funded startups in South Korea.
Investor
Companies backed
TIPS Program
12
Kakao Ventures
8
Korea Development Bank
8
CNTTECH
7
Smilegate Investment
5
Bluepoint
4
CRIT Ventures
4
D·CAMP
4
FuturePlay
4
IBK Capital
4
Counts companies in this segment that name the firm as a backer. Investor names entered the pipeline in July 2026, so they cover the companies funded since.
Funding stages in South Korea
How the last 24 months of funding rounds for funded startups in South Korea break down by stage.
A further 77 rounds in this period were announced without a stage label and are not ranked above.
About the FundedIQ South Korea startup funding data
FundedIQ tracks announced startup funding rounds and organises them by company, funding
date, stage, amount, industry, location and investor. The dataset is refreshed weekly, and
new rounds are normalised and de-duplicated before they are published, so the same round
reported twice on different dates is recorded once.
Figures on this page cover the 275 funded startups in South Korea currently tracked.
Round counts, capital totals and the median round are computed over a trailing 24 months.
Rounds whose amount was not disclosed (129 of 277 in that period) are counted as rounds but excluded from capital totals and from the median. The most recent round on record for funded startups in South Korea is dated Aug 2026.
The table above shows the 100 most recently funded companies. Full funding histories,
investor lists and founder contacts across the whole dataset open on a FundedIQ plan.
Frequently asked questions
How many funded startups are there in South Korea?
FundedIQ tracks 275 funded startups in South Korea. This page lists the 100 most recently funded of them, ordered by the date of their latest round, and the full set is available on a FundedIQ plan.
How much funding have startups in South Korea raised?
Startups in South Korea tracked by FundedIQ have raised $2.9B in disclosed capital across 277 funding rounds over the last 24 months, including 277 rounds in the last 12 months. 148 of those 277 rounds disclosed an amount; undisclosed rounds are excluded from the capital total.
What industries have the most funded startups in South Korea?
Artificial Intelligence has the most, with 74 companies, followed by Manufacturing (21), Biotechnology (18) and Hardware (14). Sector counts include every company assigned that industry, and a company can carry more than one.
Which cities have the most funded startups in South Korea?
Seoul leads with 133 companies, then Seongnam (26), Daejeon (16) and Seocho (14).
Which investors back the most startups in South Korea?
TIPS Program, Kakao Ventures, Korea Development Bank, CNTTECH and Smilegate Investment appear most often across funded startups in South Korea in the FundedIQ dataset. The count is the number of tracked companies naming each firm as a backer, so it reflects the companies on record rather than every deal a firm has ever done.
What is a typical funding round size for startups in South Korea?
The median disclosed round over the last 24 months is $4.5M, and the middle half of rounds fall between $1.7M and $11M. Round sizes vary widely by stage, so the seed and later-stage bands sit well either side of that figure.
What is the most common funding stage for startups in South Korea?
Seed is the most common labelled stage, with 110 rounds in the last 24 months, ahead of Series A (40) and Series B (27). A further 77 rounds were announced without a stage label and are not counted here.
How often is the South Korea startup funding data updated?
The dataset is refreshed weekly. New rounds are normalised and de-duplicated before they are published, and the most recent round currently on record for funded startups in South Korea is dated Aug 2026. Counts and totals on this page are recomputed on every refresh.