Many business management software startups in Korea have sprung up over the past five years. Whether you are a startup, SME, or major corporation, many activities will always happen at once. It can be a challenge to handle these activities without becoming disorganized. This is why it makes sense for businesses in Korea to use business management software. However, most companies in Korea are not familiar with popular SaaS platforms such as Slack, Notion, Asana, Scoro, Hubspot, NetSuite, and Monday.com. Therefore, Korean SaaS startups focusing on business management software have started to get a lot of attention in South Korea. 

Many global business management software is not compatible with Korean companies. For employees in Korea to be more efficient and productive, they need software they are not only familiar with but also easy to use. When it comes to working in Korea, communication is considered paramount. Communication not only between co-workers but also with customers/clients. COVID-19 forced many employees to work remotely, these business management solutions in Korea have become vital in keeping businesses organized and running smoothly.

Below are 10 of the top emerging SaaS business management startups you should know. 

Emerging Business Management Software Startups in Korea 

Toss Lab – JANDI

One of the top business management software startups in Korea is Toss Lab, the creator of JANDI a group messaging platform for companies. JANDI is considered the Slack of Korea. On JANDI co-workers can message each other and share files. It is a great collaboration tool in Korea. In addition, it has search functions such as Dropbox. It also provides interesting emoticons and animated stickers, much like KakaoTalk. In addition, users can use JANDI for free up to 5GB of storage, and if users want more, they will need to upgrade to their premium service.

Many Korean tech startups such as Wadiz and VT Cosmetics and enterprises such as CJ and LG CNS are actively using JANDI. Their focus for 2022 will be to continue to improve their SaaS tool development for the Southeast Asian market. TossLab has raised over $12 million in funding through its Series B round from Softbank Ventures, Atinum Investment, SV Investment, SparkLab, Sinhan Capital, and T-Investment.

“Messengers for individuals are on the rise, but they are also widely used in workspaces which causes some problems. We observe the phenomenon not only in small companies but also in larger businesses. We will expand JANDI’s business so that it will reach more customers in Korea and other Asian countries,” said CEO of Toss Lab, Daniel Chan.

Allganize

Korean SaaS/AI startup Allganize helps businesses automate workflows with NLU (Natural Language Understanding) technology. Their AI-powered bot/API, Alli, can understand texts at scale and answer complicated questions from customers, employees, and business partners.  In addition, the UI / UX of Alli dashboard is intuitive and easy to use. Furthermore, Allganize has raised over $3.4 million in Series A funding from Korean VC firms such as SparkLabs Ventures, Bass Investment, and Fast Investment, just to name a few. Their main clients are businesses that need customer support and employee support. The NLU AI for enterprises has already been launched in Korea, U.S., and Japan.

“Business customers have a strong pain point. They spend hours handling repetitive questions from employees and customers. Allganize’s conversational AI dramatically reduces this by minimizing the effort of bringing supervised learning into the business,” said the CEO of Allganize, Changsu Lee.

Blue Night Corporation – Albam

Blue Night Corporation is the creator of a time attendance/shift/payroll software called Albam. Albam helps automate and simplify HR management. Albam Timeshift and Albam Payroll Automater offer help in HR management. Furthermore, the software works well with retail and manufacturing operators who need help with employee scheduling, payroll automation, and employee location-based check-in and check-out.

Albam is now the top HR SaaS provider and has over 70,000 corporate users in over 20 countries. They received over $2.1 million in investment from Capstone Partners and Geon Investment. Currently, they are looking to raise their Series B round with a valuation of over $8.6 million. Their focus for 2022 will be to enhance its presence in the global market further. Albam has disclosed its technology as an open API. This will allow for innovations that utilize Albam’s verified technology.

“Through Albam’s international expansion, we hope to empower both SMBs and Enterprises in reducing their operating costs and time, which will effectively translate into higher yields in both productivity and efficiency,” said the CEO of Blue Night Corporation, Jinyong Kim.

Gooroomee

Korean Video conferencing startup Gooroomee provides improved web-based online communication services. They focus on real-time online video communication technology. Many students in Korea use Gooroomee’s Cam Study to share images of themselves studying online in real-time. Therefore, the service is mainly used by job seekers or students preparing for college entrance exams. In addition, their service is used by general companies in Korea for educational purposes or meetings. 

Gooroomee partnered with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups for an event online with investors and startups. They also worked with D.Camp to do monthly demo days online. They have raised over $2.5 million from Innopolis Partners, PNP Investment, and Winvest Venture Capital.

Business Canvas (Typed)

Business Canvas is a document management SaaS company that is also behind Typed. They are the creators of an AI-powered document management platform. Through a network that intelligently tracks and organizes files based on the user’s interactions, the platform is able to bring information from different websites and applications into one digital workspace. They want to target writers, entrepreneurs, researchers, lawyers, and anyone else that wants to create great content. Business Canvas wants to fundamentally change how people work whether it is as a team or individually. The startup has raised $2.5 million in seed funding from Mirae Asset Venture Investment, with participation from Kakao Ventures and Nextrans Inc.

Kono.ai

Kono.ai makes scheduling meetings a lot easier for corporations with their AI-based scheduling bot Kono. Kono syncs with calendar apps like Google Calendar to help schedule meetings, conference calls, or events. It can also organize meetings for people in different time zones.  They have raised $1 million from 500 Startups and MashUp Angels. Kono is free to use. There is a paid subscription option that offers additional customized features.  Currently, Kono is focusing on business development. Their service is available in English and Korean but will add more languages in 2021.

“Scheduling business meetings is hard but highly important for business performance. Kono manages schedules efficiently and naturally, so users can be more organized and channel more of their time and energy in making their business successful,” said the CEO of Konolabs, YJ Min.