Just like the heroes on the movie, Guardians of Galaxy, below south Korean companies are founded by financial and educational supporters that help social enterprises and social ventures better solve social problems.
- Crevisse
Crevisse, founded in 2004, is the oldest social venture support group. They have been involved in the business since 2006 and have invested in up to 14 social ventures so far. One of those ventures is ‘Tree Planet’, a social venture that builds forests around the world. Crevisse is exploring and investing in social ventures based on their mission: “awaken your potential to impact the world.”
- HG Initiative (HGI)
HGI is a social venture investment company founded in 2014 by Kyung-Sun Chung, one of the founding members of the Asan Nanum Foundation and the CEO of Root Impact. They are helping the growth of changemakers and social ventures with a vision of making “a world where everyone can live a valuable life”. HGI invested in various companies, such as Sonyeo Bangatgan (a distributor of agricultural products that directly mediates producers and consumers), Dooson Company (a logistics company that hopes to eradicate poverty through jobs), Volunculture (a company that offers social contribution programs to corporations), Doctor’s Kitchen, and others.
- SOPOONG
Since its establishment in 2008, SOPOONG has invested in a total of 28 social ventures, including SOCAR, Tumblbug, and SpaceCloud. The total value of the companies they invested in is USD 420 million. 92% of those companies are still in business and 32% of them have raised follow-up funding. They select two batches per year and help them focus on their business for three months with various types of support. When companies are selected for the batch, they get USD 30,000 for investment and SOPOONG runs regular follow-up management on the companies.
- YellowDog
YellowDog is a social venture investment company founded in 2016 by Jae-Woong Lee, the founder of DAUM (one of major portal sites in Korea). YellowDog focuses on helping and fostering the companies in the sharing economy industry. They have invested in Lendit (P2P financing), Ediket (provider of children transportation service, Shuttle Tayo), and Stayes (accommodation service). All of these companies are focusing on the sharing economy.
(Top photo from 58pic.com)
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This article, entitled “Here are 4 social ventures are changing South Korean society”, was written in Korean by Platum, edited by AllTechAsia.