Seoul

Sources: Seoul-based AI chip designer FuriosaAI seeks to raise a $300M to $500M Series D to fund mass production of its second-gen RNGD chip and eyes a 2027 IPO

Sources: Seoul-based AI chip designer FuriosaAI seeks to raise a $300M-$500M Series D to fund mass production of its 2nd-gen RNGD chip and is eyeing a 2027 IPO

a16z crypto expands to Asia, opens a Seoul office, hires Monad's Sungmo Park as its Asia head, and calls South Korea the world's second-largest crypto market

What to know: … A16z crypto, a venture capital fund of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), said it is expanding into Asia …

A look at Seoul-based Bithumb ahead of its 2025 IPO; Kaiko says Bithumb had 36% of South Korea's crypto trading in January 2024, up from 11.5% in January 2023

Sidhartha Shukla / Bloomberg :

SK Hynix reports Q4 revenue up 75% YoY to a record ~$13.7B, a ~$5.6B net profit, and a ~$5.6B operating profit, in line with estimates, as HBM chip demand soars

- Its shares slide in Seoul after a 30% run-up this year  — Demand for high-end memory soaring on datacenter rollouts

PUBG developer Krafton, whose Seoul-listed shares are up more than 70% since early 2024, plans to invest over $136M in 2025 in more than a dozen game studios

Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg :

Samsung reports Q1 revenue up 12.81% YoY to ~$52.3B, vs. ~$51.6B est., operating profit up 932.8% YoY to ~$4.8B, vs. ~$4.3B est., as memory chip prices rebound

Samsung Electronics Co. Galaxy S24 smartphones during a media preview event in Seoul, South Korea, on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024.

South Korea's trade ministry says the electronics sector drew $3B in foreign direct investment in 2023; the country is building a chip cluster south of Seoul

Sam Kim / Bloomberg :

Seoul-based Finda, which runs an online loan comparison service, raised a ~$37M Series C from JB Financial and 500 Global; Finda brokered ~$3B in loans in 2022

Shruti Khairnar / FinTech Futures :

Seoul-based fashion marketplace Musinsa raised a $190M Series C led by KKR, with participation from Wellington Management, sources say at a ~$2.76B valuation

Kate Park / TechCrunch :