KSC Singapore helps Korean startups enter the Singaporean market. KSC (K-Startup Center) in Singapore is Southeast Asia’s first Korean startup center. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups launched it to help startups in Korea set up their business in Singapore. They have worked with a Fintech startup accelerator in Korea called Fintech Lab to help Korean startups expand into Singapore. KSC Singapore aims to bring you cutting-edge developments, exciting innovations, promising solutions, and opportunities to establish connections or potential partnerships with driven, like-minded entrepreneurs.
Why Korean Startups Should Enter the Singaporean Market
Singapore has been known as a global financial center for many years. However, they are now looking to become the Silicon Valley of Asia. Big global tech companies such as Google, Salesforce, Amazon, and Facebook have already built headquarters, R&D centers, and operational centers in Singapore. These big tech companies will help the startup ecosystem in Singapore as a whole. They can provide mentorship, early-funding opportunities, and partnership opportunities. South Korea and Singapore have been substantially strengthening their bond recently and have initiated new ways for Korean startups to explore the Singapore market.
Singapore offers a vast business-friendly environment (it takes one day to register a company in Singapore) and easy access to venture capital. In addition, Singapore offers strong IP protection, open business policies, a skilled workforce, a large market, and the use of English as their main working language.
“Korean startups entering Singapore can leverage their strong Korean innovation foundation, and tap on the vast digital transformation demands to co-innovate with Singapore-based firms to scale into Southeast Asia. Support from centers like KSC and market access advisors like ourselves will definitely help to smoothen their landing and provide the necessary connections,” said Edmas Neo, CEO of Accrete Innovation.
5 Korean Startups That Entered Singapore Through KSC
5 startups from Korea pitched their products and services at KSC Day, a kind of Demo Day run by KSC. This was a great opportunity to form partnerships, build networks, and discover industry-disrupting opportunities. Below are 5 Korean startups that successfully transitioned into Singapore thanks to KSC.
Aizen
Korean Fintech startup Aizen offers an AI banking-as-a-service product to help companies launch banking services faster. In addition, it helps with customer retention and the diversification of its revenue streams through its APIs. Therefore, it is perfect for assisting banks to reach more customers without high marketing and IT costs. In addition, their machine-learning platform automates the decision-making processes in banking, retail payment, and even insurance. Some institutions that use their product include Samsung Marine and Fire Insurance, Hyundai Card, and Woori Bank.
Norma
Norma is a security software publisher for all types of wireless networks, such as WiFi and Bluetooth. They protect connected systems such as smart objects, personal devices, and corporate networks from cyber threats. The platform developed by Norma monitors networks and devices that can be used as routers. Furthermore, any intrusion attempt will trigger an alarm and will be immediately blocked. In addition, Norma can simulate false cyberattacks to make it possible to check the security levels of a network and identify any weak points. Some of their more notable partners and customers include Samsung, the South Korean Ministry of Defence, and the Korean National Police Agency.
Sentbe
Sentbe is one of the largest money transfer fintech remittance startups in Korea. It is a financial technology startup that makes cross-border person-to-person money transfers easier, faster, and cheaper through innovative technology. They are already licensed as a financial institution in Korea. In addition, they have also partnered with Ripple, which offers a better international payments experience for customers in real-time, making Sentbe transactions faster and more secure.
Spiceware
Spiceware on Cloud is a SaaS that securely protects all data operated by enterprises in the finance, public, telecommunications, and healthcare sectors by providing data security and PII (Personally Identifiable Information) protection services for building infrastructure utilizing the cloud, big data, and AI. It is a cloud-native PII Protection Service with the following features: Encryption, Access Log Management, PII Deletion, Anonymization & Pseudonymization. Moreover, Spiceware has been an Amazon APN Select Technology Partner in the category of DB Encryption since 2018.
Uppsala Security
Uppsala Security offers tools for Crypto AML, Risk Management, Regulatory Compliance, KYC Intelligence, Transaction Monitoring/Tracking, and Cybersecurity. They are the builders of the Sentinel Protocol. The protocol is powered by Blockchain and AI technologies. Therefore, they help strengthen organizational capabilities for protecting their cryptocurrencies and other digital assets from malicious attacks, fraud, and scams. Furthermore, some of their users include government organizations and leading enterprises providing crypto exchanges, payment gateways, wallets, gaming, and Fintech solutions.
