South Korea’s Between, a chat app for couples, raises USD3M

Between's new sticker store

VCNC, the startup behind Between, a popular communication app for couples, has raised a KRW 3B (USD 3M) round from four investors, reported Korean tech blog beSuccess.

The app enables couples to engage in private conversations, share moments and milestones, and create memos for date ideas.

The participants in the round are all Korea-based VC firms. They are: Stonebridge Capital, KTB Network, Capstone Partners, and Softbank Ventures. Stonebridge and KTB invested USD1M each, while Capstone and Softbank contributed USD500k each. Softbank had earlier contributed USD1M in seed money to the startup.

The latest capital injection will be used for overseas expansion and for hiring experienced developers to improve Between’s backend, VCNC founder Jaewook Park told beSuccess. Read more

Between, a private social network for couples, hits 1.75 million downloads

Between, a mobile private social network for couples, has hit 1.75 million downloads. We last heard about the South Korean startup at Echelon 2012, where it announced a tally of 700,000 downloads, out of which 60% were active users.

These figures certainly indicate an impressive growth rate for the app, which more than doubled in downloads after just 5 months. According to Edward Lee, co-founder of Between, the app has managed to convert 80% of downloads into users, while maintaining its 60% active user rate. That would mean the app has about 840k monthly active users — giving Between reason to be optimistic. Read more

Builk wins Echelon 2012 Launchpad, Between emerges as runner-up

Patai (trophy in hand) flanked by the judges.

Builk is the winner of this year’s Echelon Launchpad. The Thai startup is a professional social network for the construction industry that doubles as a construction management web app.

Ten startups each had their turn in the cauldron at Echelon 2012′s pitch competition. Definitely a highlight among attendees, the Launchpad had put startups under the intense spotlight as they pitch and try to impress both the sophisticated crowd and inscrutable judges.

During Builk’s pitch, principal and co-founder Patai Padungtin shared that 1,400 construction firms have already registered with Builk since their launch in 2010.

(Read: Builk walks where few tech startups tread: Changing the construction industry)

He also revealed that they plan to expand to Indonesia, Vietnam, and Australia, and add new modules to Builk, such as the ability to collect pre-construction information from contractors. Read more

10 finalists for Echelon 2012 pitch competition announced

The 10 finalists for Echelon 2012, a major technology startup conference in Singapore, has been announced. They will be pitching on stage at the event to vie for the title of Most Promising Startup.

The startups come from the following countries: Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and Thailand. At this moment, they are fine-tuning their actual day pitches with the e27 team, who are the organizers of the event.

Here’s a list of the finalists (descriptions by e27): Read more

Echelon 2012 essentials — your guide to Asia’s key tech startup event

Organized by tech blog e27 for the third year running, Echelon 2012 is a key startup launchpad in Asia with over 1,100 delegates in attendance and 50 startups exhibiting in the Marketplace. The two-day, double-track event, which will be held on 11th and 12th June, plays host to a list of distinguished speakers who will discuss the latest trends in Asia’s startup scene.

The conference will also feature a startup pitch competition, where 10 companies will take the stage to win the audience and the judges over — and hopefully secure their next round of investments. These finalists were selected from a series of Satellite events held around Asia earlier in the year.

In this page, you will find everything we have about the conference and the startups that are being showcased. Check back here often as we’ll constantly update it with more content. Read more

South Korean app Between, a private social network for couples, amasses over 400k users

A version of this article first appeared on beSUCCESS.

If you’re among those who think that social networking is becoming too noisy and intrusive, then here is a solution to communicate with your partner in a private, intimate way.

Between is an app developed by South Korean startup VCNC. It provides a quick chat option between couples, a photo album and messaging functions.

Although there are other similar mobile apps gaining popularity, Between is by far the most successful based on the number of downloads. It was judged the best mobile app at the TNW Conference in Amsterdam and they won second place in The Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) 2012 G-Startup Competition held in Beijing. Read more

South Korea Digest: GS Home Shopping investments, SoftBank Ventures invests in VCNC, and more

(1) GS Home Shopping invested in four startups from late 2010 and throughout 2011, totaling 6 billion won (US$5.2 M)

(2) SoftBank Ventures announced on the 22th December 2011 that it invested 1 billion won (US$ 900,000) in VCNC, a Korean startup. Founded last February by five people including CEO Park Jae-wook, who got a B.A. in electronic engineering from Seoul National University, VCNC (Value Creators & Company) developed ‘Between’, a social networking service for couples.

(3) The famous mobile messenger app ‘Kakao Talk‘ is suffering from the ‘Kakao Talk Jail’ issue. It constantly invites random people to the group chatting room, causing people to be annoyed by endless notifications.

(4) Group buying site Ticket Monster was renamed TMON. It started using top actor Gong Yu as its brand ambassador for its advertising campaign. Still ‘Ticket Monster’ remains the company’s corporate identity.

(5) Korea is chosen as the most app-crazed country per capita.

(6) The Korean Angel Investment Matching Fund is set to raise 10B won (US$8.6M). The fund will be used to boost growth momentum for startups. The Small and Medium Business Administration of Korea will back it up by start a support center for angel investment and offering more diverse incentives for angels.

This has been brought to you by SGE and OnSuccess. OnSuccess is a media enterprise for start-ups and ventures in Korea. OnSuccess introduces innovative Korean start-ups and ventures to people overseas through media partners and inspires readers by sharing interesting business ideas and trends from all over the world. Furthermore, OnSuccess holds various events, offering actual chances for Korean start-ups and ventures to meet other start-ups, venture business partners and investors abroad. They publish in both Korean and English.

We thank nordicfactory for the flag image.

South Korea Digest: 4S STUDIO by Waterbear Soft, Global Business Support Center in Seoul, and more

Here are some interesting startup news snippets from South Korea, not only in its capital, Seoul, but also other startup hubs such as Busan, Incheon, Ulsan and many more. These stories are taken from our partner, OnSuccess, a website on start-ups and entrepreneurship in South Korea. Read more