As social media usage continues to grow worldwide, there has been a proliferation of Korean startups focused on this industry. Korean social media startups are looking to leverage Korea’s great internet infrastructure and high social media usage from Korean citizens. South Korea has the 3rd highest rate of active social media users in the world. It is estimated that over 85% of South Koreans use social media. The Korean social media landscape is a bit more complicated than the United States or the UK. Therefore, startups in Korea must be familiar with Korea’s own set of platforms that have proven to be equally or more popular over the last decade.

The focus of this article will not be on the giant Korean social media like KakaoStory or BAND by Naver. Instead, the article will focus on startups in the social networking space that have big potential to break out. Here are some of the most promising and innovative social media startups in Korea that you should keep an eye on.

HYPERCONNECT

One of the biggest Korean social media startups that went viral back in 2021 was HYPERCONNECT. They were acquired by dating company Match Group (owner of Tinder) for $1.73 billion. HYPERCONNECT is the creator of two apps. One is Azar which is a one-to-one video chat platform and the other is Hakuna Live which focuses on the online live broadcast market. What makes these two apps special is that they both allow users to connect across different languages.

HYPERCONNECT offers resilient p2p connections between users without relying on a company to serve as a middleman server. This not only improves reliability by removing latency issues but also reduces the cost of bandwidth for HYPERCONNECT. However, their core technology lies in their infrastructure that supports two users who speak and text in different languages via real-time translation.

Awake Corporation (Meercat)

Awake Corporation is a Korean social media startup that helps social media creators through two services. One is called Meercat IO and the other is called Creator Time. Meercat IO is a utility service for social media creators. Furthermore, it analyzes content shown to 100 million followers per month and provides feedback to the social media creators. In addition, it can judge a content’s level of influence with a 97% accuracy. They received over $900,000 in seed funding from the Tech Incubator Program for Startup (TIPS), Seoul Techno Holdings, and Angel investors.

CELEBe

CELEBe is a Korean startup that supports and discovers social media content creators creating K-content. Currently, the app has more than 4,000 Korean celebrities such as Kpop girl group BLACKPINK member Jisoo. Moreover, the app will introduce content such as NFTs by utilizing Korean celebrities and creators in various fields. Currently, CELEBe is a celebrity-driven app that offers personalized videos and messages straight to consumers which has already revolutionized social media content in Korea. Celebrities on the platform can also donate a portion of their proceeds through the app directly to local and national charities.