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A Korean unicorn just automated a third of customer service — and a fashion platform tripled its China sales in one quarter.
Sendbird launched Agent Steward, an AI system that hands off complex customer service tasks like refunds and rebookings to specialized AI sub-agents instead of human staff. The company now draws 80 to 90 percent of new revenue from AI products, a full pivot from its original chat infrastructure business. Separately, Musinsa's China transaction value tripled quarter-on-quarter and its global online store hit a record 21 billion won in June, as the platform opens a fifth mainland China store in Shenzhen this September. Together, the two cases point founders toward AI customer service and cross-border retail infrastructure as the sectors showing real traction in Korea right now.
Sources:

Sendbird CEO Kim Dong-shin: "AI Agents Can Now Handle Refunds Through Agent Steward" — Seoul Economic Daily, July 12, 2026
Musinsa Pushes Into Southern China With Fifth Store in Shenzhen This September — Seoul Economic Daily, July 12, 2026

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AI PRISM is Seoul Economic Daily's WAN-IFRA award-winning newsroom AI series, delivering Korean economic news adapted for global audiences. Episodes are produced with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor.
Tags:
#Sendbird #Musinsa #KoreaStartups #AIAgents #Unicorn #KoreaTech #KOSPI #AIPRISM #SeoulEconomicDaily #WANIFRA

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00:09다음 영상에서 만나요
00:31Meanwhile, Musinsa just posted a 236% jump in overseas transaction volume, proving Korean platforms can scale fast abroad.
00:41Here's what both stories tell you about where to place your next Koreabet.
00:46It's Monday, July 13th.
00:49Let's look at what this means for startups and entrepreneurs in Korea.
00:54Sendbird started in 2013 as a parenting community app before pivoting to AI communication tools after years of trial and
01:02error.
01:03Its new agent-steward system assigns each piece of a customer request – refunds, rebookings, cancellations – to a separate
01:12AI sub-agent instead of routing everything to a human.
01:16Musinsa built its China Push on the same expansion logic, opening its fourth mainland store in the first half of
01:23the year before targeting the southern tech hub of Shenzhen for a fifth store in September.
01:29Here's what the numbers show.
01:32Sendbird's agent-steward hit sub-one-second voice response times, matching human-level speed, with accuracy running 15% above
01:40competing platforms.
01:42Sendbird now pulls 80-90% of new revenue from AI products, a full reversal from a business once built
01:50entirely on chat infrastructure.
01:53Musinsa's China Stores drove second-quarter transaction value up more than threefold from the first quarter, with a fifth mainland
02:00store opening in Shenzhen this September.
02:03Musinsa Standard's Tmall transaction value rose 27% quarter-on-quarter, extending the same momentum online.
02:12Musinsa's global store hit 21 billion won, about $14 million, in June transactions, a record for the platform since launch.
02:22Musinsa plans 15 new stores in Taiwan over the next five years, extending the outbound playbook beyond mainland China.
02:31So what does this mean for founders and investors weighing Korea right now?
02:35Earlier, we said 90% of Sendbird's new revenue already comes from AI.
02:41That's the signal that Korea's enterprise AI vertical is investable now, not in three years.
02:48For consumer and retail-adjacent founders, Musinsa's numbers show the outbound playbook.
02:54Flagship stores that convert into a global online base actually compounds instead of plateauing.
03:01If you're timing entry into Korea's startup ecosystem, AI customer service and cross-border retail infrastructure are the two sectors
03:10showing real traction this quarter, not just funding headlines.
03:14That's today's AI Prism, Founders.
03:18This episode was produced with AI assistance based on Seoul Economic Daily reporting and reviewed by a human editor.
03:26AI Prism is a Juan Ifra Award-winning series.
03:30We'll be back tomorrow.
03:31You've been listening to AI Prism from Seoul Economic Daily.
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