With the advancement of technology, the education technology sector has been rapidly growing in South Korea. EdTech startups are developing new creative ways and tools to educate anyone willing to learn. From digital classrooms, online courses, and chatbots, here are eight EdTech startups to watch out for in Korea this year.
SmartStudy
South Korean EdTech startup SmartStudy creates educational hit content, such as “Pinkfong” and “Baby Shark,” for kids globally. Established in 2010, the startup produces videos that feature characters using different languages. The company’s educational contents are available through apps and YouTube.
SmartStudy’s sales reached over $33 million (41.4 billion won) in 2019 and $23 million (28.9 billion won) a year earlier.
Riiid
The startup Riiid provides an artificial intelligence-powered tutoring platform that utilizes machine learning technology. The company’s B2B solution called “santA.Inside,” is an AI-based tutoring platform for the growing global test-prep market.
The solution’s first application focused on TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication). It is a widely used test in Korea designed to measure the progress of using the English language in business settings.
Riiid raised over $15 million (18.8 billion won) in a Series C funding led by Premier Partners.
Mathpresso
Mathpresso, the creator of tutoring app “Qanda,” provides an educational data platform where students can ask tutors and search for solutions for math problems. The app is available in five languages, including Korean, English, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Indonesian.
The South Korean EdTech startup raised over $21 million (26.4 billion won) in a series funding round.
Elice
Korean startup Elice focuses on teaching coding skills to students, job seekers, and employees. The startup provides an online coding platform, “Elice,” and an online learning platform called “Elice academy.”
The platform guides students through classes and exercises while analyzing their learning progress. Users can select from a wide variety of subjects, including programming basics, data analysis, deep learning, and more.
After receiving investments from KAIST Ventures and Naver D2 Factory, the business secured a $2.8 million investment from Altos Ventures last year.
Fast Campus
The Fast Campus startup provides almost 2,000 module-customized one-on-one lessons focusing mainly on higher education services aimed at Korean adults. Their classes include marketing, finance, programming, data science, and foreign languages.
Fast Campus secured $8.3 million (10.4 billion won) from a series B funding round. The startup also launched “Coloso,” which handles classes in cooking, cartoon drawing, hairdressing, and other technical skills.
Knowre
South Korean startup Knowre provides a math tutoring platform for students in grades 1 to 11. The educational platform features game-like activities for pre-Algebra, Algebra, and Algebra II. Daekyo acquired the startup, hoping that it would become the “DreamBox Learning” of Korea.
The critical feature of Knowre is the software’s algorithm, which creates a personalized curriculum for each student based on their strengths and weaknesses. They have raised over $7 million in funding and are looking to expand into the Chinese market in 2020.
Eggbun
Eggbun teaches the Korean language through real-time chatbots. Users can also learn about Korean cultures, such as K-drama and K-pop. The platform offers a chatbot named “Lanny,” that provide vocabulary lists, quizzes, and even step-by-step curriculums.
Users can also learn English, Japanese, or Chinese through Eggbun. The startup raised over $1 million (1.25 billion won).
Classting
EdTech startup Classting created an education social community platform by using AI deep learning technology and big data. The company’s platform provides tailored information and functions mostly for the public education sector in Korea.
Classting secured over $5.5 million (6.9 billion won) of funding. It currently boasts 4.5 million users in over 15,000 educational institutions and schools.
