Shining a Light on 'Content Startups'

Korea Creative Content Agency Supports Accelerator Co-Growth Project - ① Media
AI Audiobook System Development 'Neocomics' · Beat Music Platform Operation 'Beatsomeone'

One out of three domestic startups closes within a year of founding. Of the remaining two, one cannot survive for five years. The average time it takes for a surviving company to be listed on KOSDAQ is 14 years. They endlessly wander between happiness and emptiness. There is a helping hand. Support ranges from development funding programs to office provision and labor cost assistance. However, becoming accustomed to convenience can lead to a loss of self-sustainability. There is also a gap between business plans for support and what private investors and customers want. Since 2017, the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) has launched the Content Accelerator Co-Growth Project for effective support. By utilizing private expertise, it discovers startups and supports them with abundant mentorship to strengthen their capabilities, achieve results, and attract investment. Thirty companies have been selected through three accelerators. We explore their current status by dividing them into media, information and communication technology (ICT) convergence, and platforms.

Neocomics is a company developing a hybrid audiobook system using artificial intelligence (AI) voice synthesis and recognition. It took its first step in 2018 with a capital of 10 million KRW. CEO Kwon Taekjun’s goal is to grow it into a global content company that delivers dreams and hope to children. This grand vision has matured through KOCCA and Venturesquare’s ‘Startup Nomad: Media Content Startup Acceleration.’ They received 100 million KRW in pre-Series A investment and embarked on developing an AI audiobook platform, an automatic generation system, and an AI news streaming service. They are also developing technology to automatically animate webtoon images. CEO Kwon stated, "We reduced content production costs and time by up to 1/100 using AI technology," adding, "We monetized by producing webtoons, audiobooks, and animations at low costs."

Neocomics’ sales last year were 1.05 billion KRW. Despite the spread of COVID-19, they received about 400 million KRW in commercialization and R&D funding. Recently, they secured about 700 million KRW through TIPS. CEO Kwon said, "Thanks to various education and consulting from KOCCA and Venturesquare, we succeeded in monetizing the business." "Although we had various AI technologies, we were unsure how to commercialize them. Through broad mentorship, we distinguished the wheat from the chaff and achieved good results in a short time. We produced webtoons from famous web novels and localized overseas popular webtoons. We also collaborated with Kyowon to animate educational comics, which aired on KT Olleh TV."

Bitsomeone, which operates a global beat music platform, is also a beneficiary of ‘Startup Nomad: Media Content Startup Acceleration.’ CEO Kim Yonghwan worked for over 10 years in management at YG Entertainment, Cube Entertainment, and SidusHQ. With a desire for high-quality Korean musicians’ music to reach overseas, he founded Dumdum, the predecessor of Bitsomeone, in November 2018. He recalled, "I started alone with small capital in a hectic way, but meeting KOCCA and Venturesquare helped me move in the right direction." "By actively presenting opinions, ideas that we never thought of inside the company were completed. Networking with other startups also created synergy."

In the startup industry, the perception of the music market is relatively low. This is because the launched services are limited and even those operate as monopolies or oligopolies. CEO Kim focused on coexistence and collaboration rather than competing with existing services. With an open personality, he persuaded others to expand the domestic music market size and secure overseas competitors’ market share, passing a fierce competition ratio of 18 to 1.

Thanks to this, Bitsomeone concentrated on overseas expansion of beatmakers, composers, and producers, and various partnerships for global distribution, expanding the revenue market while creating multiple revenue streams. They also established a system that generates and manages digital copyrights using blockchain technology and transparently settles all distribution processes. CEO Kim stated, "Promotions targeting the US and UK led to great results, and last year platform sales increased by 400% compared to the previous year."

Kim Jaehyung, a Venturesquare evaluator, said, "This is the result of networking materialized based on outstanding global strategy and experience accumulated in management." "Besides Bitsomeone and Neocomics, Newz, Dino Studio, Boom Communication, Withplus, Imel Ventures, Ebridge World, Team Island, Picureit, and Happy To See You, all met through ‘Startup Nomad: Media Content Startup Acceleration,’ have sufficient competitiveness."

Neocomics, which first stood out, will produce audiobooks from famous intellectual properties (IP) this year and actively pursue webtoon and animation adaptations. CEO Kwon said, "We plan to actively utilize advanced AI webtoon automatic animation technology." "We will develop excellent domestic IPs into audiobooks, webtoons, and animations to create content that can be enjoyed not only domestically but also overseas."

Bitsomeone’s goal this year is to provide ‘all services musicians need.’ They plan to offer customized music to various countries and establish themselves as a global music trend. CEO Kim expressed a bold ambition, saying, "There is still a significant disparity in conditions for music creators, and analog distribution systems are taken for granted. Plagiarism and illegal misuse are still rampant." "Our goal is to be the first domestic company to hire 100 creative musicians. We will rebuild the distribution system and ecosystem to define a new global standard."