00:00korea startup funding landscape is shifting here's what founders need to know today fintech is moving
00:05fast ai-driven financial services are becoming the new battleground packaged kimchi and pre-cooked
00:11rice are now a multi-billion one opportunity let's see why it's monday october 26th let's look at
00:18what this means for startups and entrepreneurs in korea start with a local food startup in chingyang
00:23its founders turned a regional chili into a business model their company atadarou local
00:28was founded in 2022 by three young people who moved from seoul their chingjing chili bread factory
00:34opened in 2024 and now draws tourists from across the country here's what the numbers show seoul
00:40fintech week opens tomorrow in yewido with 21 companies taking part in its recruitment and
00:45exhibition program six fintech startups from the second seoul fintech lab and 12 from the seoul
00:50fintech lab will pitch at a demo day on october 27th cj child jedong aims to grow its hetbon rice
00:56brand to a 1.5 trillion one line by 2028 with overseas sales now at 15 percent of the total
01:02with overseas sales now at 15 percent of the total black yak has signed a five-year exclusive
01:07distribution deal with japan's chiffon with its first product launch set for february next year
01:12first product launch set for february next year kimchi buyers are shifting to pre-salted cabbage sales
01:18at lotta mart rose 6.8 percent year on year while packaged kimchi sales at curly jumped 35 percent
01:24so what does this mean for founders weighing their next move earlier we said the real opportunity sits
01:29in differentiation adadarou local shows what that means in practice a regional asset a clear identity
01:35and a business model built on repeat visits for founders the key question is not whether a market is
01:41growing it's whether your product has a defensible identity that survives beyond the first wave of
01:46attention watch the distribution partnerships closely cross-border licensing deals like black
01:51yaks can open new revenue without the cost of building a full overseas team that's today's ai prism
01:57founders this episode was produced with ai assistance based on seoul economic daily reporting
02:03ai prism is a juan ifra award-winning series we'll be back tomorrow
