Last Thursday we held our first TechCrunch meetup in Seoul, Korea, in association with Campus Seoul from Google.
More than 1,300 people queued round the block to pack into the aA Design Museum for an evening dedicated to Korea’s startup scene.
First, there were fireside chats from Richard Min, founder of plus822; Hyungseok Dino Ha, CEO of Memebox; Jimmy Jihoon Rim, CEO of K-Cube Ventures; and Bedy Yang, Managing Partner at 500 Startups and Tim Chae, Venture Partner at 500 Startups.
Following the insightful discussions, we moved onto the famous TechCrunch startup pitch-off competition.
The 10 promising startups picked out by the TechCrunch team pitched the audience and a judging panel consisting of Mike Butcher, TechCrunch; Alina Gratschner, Managing Partner at Apora Ventures; Mike Kim, Head of Global Partnerships at Baedal; Jaeuk Park, CEO of VCNC; and Jeffery Lim, Head of Google Campus Seoul.
Join 10k+ tech and VC leaders for growth and connections at Disrupt 2025
Netflix, Box, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, Vinod Khosla — just some of the 250+ heavy hitters leading 200+ sessions designed to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don’t miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech. Grab your ticket before doors open to save up to $444.
Join 10k+ tech and VC leaders for growth and connections at Disrupt 2025
Netflix, Box, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, Vinod Khosla — just some of the 250+ heavy hitters leading 200+ sessions designed to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don’t miss a chance to learn from the top voices in tech. Grab your ticket before doors open to save up to $444.
We were impressed by the tech, energy and hustler spirit of each team — but, there must, of course, be winners… and here they are:
- BBB — pioneering mobile health, for example blood tests, via mobile apps
- Spacosa Corp — has sold over two million ‘Famy’ tracking devices that keep an eye on the location of family and loved ones
- Casual Steps — its Snapshop retail service helps make global e-commerce easy for Koreans
BBB scooped two free tickets and a demo table to exhibit in Startup Alley at a TechCrunch Disrupt. Plus, in addition to a place within the Campus Exchange program in London.
Spacosa Corp nabbed two Disrupt tickets, while Casual Steps got one ticket to a future Disrupt.
Congratulations to all of the startups that pitched at the event, you each did a great job and helped raised the status of Korea’s startup ecosystem.
Beyond the event, the TechCrunch team — Mike Butcher, Sam O’Keefe, Joey Hinson and me — spent time at the new Campus Seoul, visiting tech companies across the city, and — most importantly — talking to VCs and entrepreneurs on the ground about Korea’s fast-developing startup ecosystem.
Check out our selection of photos from the meet-up below — thanks to everyone who made us feel so welcome in 🇰🇷🇰🇷 Seoul 🇰🇷🇰🇷 !!
All images by Greg Samborski
