Uisikju Company, BetterWay Systems, Kurly, Rainist, Croquis.com, and Others
Creating New Jobs in Innovative Ventures and Startups
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] Despite the challenging conditions caused by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), startup and venture companies continue to grow and create jobs.
According to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) on the 3rd, Uisikju Company and Better Way Systems, selected for the 'Baby Unicorn 200' project in June last year, have expanded their services and created jobs since then. Uisikju Company (CEO Jo Seong-woo) launched 'Laundrigo' in March 2019, a non-face-to-face mobile laundry service that allows customers to drop off and pick up laundry with a single smartphone touch. As Laundrigo, popular among office workers, gained even more popularity due to COVID-19, Uisikju Company increased its employment by more than 60%, from 73 employees in April last year to 118 in November.
Better Way Systems (CEO Yang Pyeong), which combined traditional printing with information and communication technology (IT) to build a digital printing automation system, offers a service under the brand 'Red Printing' that allows customized production of even a single printed item. Thanks to new product development and increased overseas exports, Better Way Systems newly hired 41 IT developers, designers, and operators, increasing its workforce from 148 employees in April last year to 189 in November (a 28% increase).
New job creation by companies supported by the MSS's special guarantee for prospective unicorns, which provides guarantees up to 10 billion KRW, is also notable. Kurly (CEO Kim Seul-ah), operating the online food sales platform 'Market Kurly' and a leader in domestic fresh food dawn delivery, has expanded its professional workforce in product planning, marketing, IT, and customer service. As of November last year, its employment reached 1,000, creating 647 new jobs compared to April 2019 when it applied for prospective unicorn status.
Rainist (CEO Kim Tae-hoon), which provides integrated asset management services including recommending financial products tailored to customer preferences through the MyData financial platform 'Bank Salad,' had 107 employees at the time of its prospective unicorn application in the second half of 2019, but increased employment by 126 to 233 employees as of November last year.
Croquiscom (CEO Seo Jeong-hoon), operating the mobile women's clothing product brokerage platform 'Zigzag,' was selected as a prospective unicorn company in July last year. Due to recent user growth, it hired 65 employees in IT development and marketing, increasing employment from 147 in the first half of 2020 to 212 in November.
Companies participating in the MSS's 'K-Unicorn Project,' including Baby Unicorn 200 and prospective unicorn special guarantees, attracted follow-up investments of 670.9 billion KRW and increased sales by more than 50%, creating 1,898 jobs. Among them, Baby Unicorn 200 participating companies increased jobs by 11 per company, totaling 449 new jobs in six months, while prospective unicorn special guarantee companies created 1,449 new jobs compared to the time of application.
Furthermore, according to the detailed venture company survey results announced at the end of last year, total employment in venture companies was 804,000, which is 136,000 more than the 668,000 employed by Korea's four major conglomerates. It was also confirmed that venture companies created 117,000 new jobs in 2019, 5.6 times the 21,000 new jobs created by the four major conglomerates during the same period.
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