Startup Employment Falls for First Time in 12 Years as Revenue Surges 20%

*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an AI-based customized news recommendation and summarization service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and delivers six tailored news items for each reader type.

1. Karrot Injects Additional 20 Billion Won into Canada Despite Losses

- Key Summary: Karrot made a 20.2 billion won cash investment in its Canadian subsidiary, Karrot Canada Corp., in January this year. The additional investment was carried out despite the Canadian unit posting a net loss of 37.5 billion won last year. Karrot reinvested earnings into overseas market expansion immediately after achieving profitability with 14.6 billion won in operating profit in 2025. The Canadian subsidiary expanded its service nationwide in Canada last July and extended operations to New York and Chicago in the United States. Domestically, Karrot is pursuing a two-track strategy to reduce its dependence on advertising revenue — which accounted for 268.4 billion won of the company's total revenue of 270.6 billion won — by advancing its AI-based brokerage platform and expanding research and development spending to 55.2 billion won in 2025.

2. Channels with 500 Subscribers Can Now Sell — YouTube Lowers Shopping Barrier Again

- Key Summary: YouTube has eased the eligibility requirement for its shopping affiliate program from 1,000 or more subscribers to 500 or more. The relaxed requirement applies to 12 countries including Korea, the United States, Japan, and India. In Korea, the threshold has dropped from 10,000 at the program's launch in June 2024 to 500 in just two years. The number of participating Korean creators, which stood at 25,000 as of March last year, is expected to grow rapidly. Mirae Asset Securities (006800.KS) projects that YouTube shopping's gross merchandise value in Korea will reach 13 trillion won by 2030. YouTube is intensifying its push into the Korean commerce market by partnering with AliExpress and expanding its domestic affiliate partners to 10.

3. Startup Employment Effect Declines for First Time in 12 Years — "Impact of Industrial Structural Shift"

- Key Summary: According to KISED's "2025 Startup Support Company History and Performance Survey," the average number of employees per startup fell 10.4% year-on-year to 8.97 in 2024, marking the first decline since the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2012 — a reversal after 12 years. Meanwhile, average revenue per company rose 20% year-on-year to 1.775 billion won, the highest revenue growth rate in the past three years. KISED attributed the trend to a natural consequence of industrial transition, citing the reversal in the composition of surveyed companies from a 60:40 ratio of manufacturing to knowledge services to a 40:60 ratio. Some analysts, however, argue that budget cuts and reduced R&D investment since 2023 are the primary factors behind the employment deterioration.

4. Manycore, Which Virtually Trains Robots, Becomes First Among Hangzhou's 'Six Little Dragons' to List

- Key Summary: Manycore, an AI-based 3D design and simulation specialist, has passed the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's listing review, becoming the first among the "Hangzhou Six Little Dragons" — a group that includes DeepSeek — to reach the final stage of an initial public offering. Founded in 2011, Manycore started with home interior design software and expanded into digital twin platforms for factories and warehouses. More recently, the company has moved into large-scale virtual training services for robots and AI agents. Revenue last year was approximately 174 billion won, and adjusted net profit on a non-IFRS basis was approximately 12.5 billion won, marking a turnaround to profitability. Following Manycore's lead, several of the Six Little Dragons — including Unitree, BrainCo, and DeepRobotics — are expected to make their stock market debuts this year. Manycore's valuation at listing is estimated at around 3 trillion won.

5. Samsung SDS Establishes Virtual Asset IT Team to Expand Business Frontier

- Key Summary: Samsung SDS has established a "Digital Asset Consulting Group" under the financial consulting team in its strategic marketing division, entering the IT consulting business for security token offerings (STO) and stablecoins. Samsung SDS CEO Lee Jun-hee said at the annual general meeting on the 18th, "We are reviewing new businesses such as stablecoins with commercialization as a precondition." Samsung Card (029780.KS) is in discussions with KB Kookmin Bank and Toss to form a consortium related to a Korean won-denominated stablecoin. Samsung SDS is also expanding its data center design, build, and operate (DBO) business beyond Samsung Group affiliates for the first time this year and introducing Nvidia's latest B300 graphics processing units through its subscription service. Financial data provider FnGuide forecasts Samsung SDS's revenue at 14.5651 trillion won and operating profit at 1.0233 trillion won for this year.

6. OCI Holdings (010060.KS) Raises $125 Million from IFC for Semiconductor Materials Expansion

- Key Summary: OCI Terrasus, a Malaysian subsidiary of OCI Holdings, has secured a $125 million (approximately 190 billion won) investment from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. This marks IFC's first investment in Malaysia's Sarawak state. The funds will be used for the construction and operation of a plant by OTSM, a 50:50 joint venture between OCI Terrasus and Japan's Tokuyama. OTSM will produce 11-Nine grade (99.999999999% purity) ultra-high-purity polysilicon for semiconductors using eco-friendly hydroelectric power. The plant is scheduled for completion in 2027, with commercial production of 8,000 tons per year beginning in 2029. IFC makes investment decisions based on a comprehensive evaluation of profitability along with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) management and compliance indicators. The investment is seen as international recognition of OCI Holdings' ESG management capabilities.