April 25, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] For local startups that often suffer from tight budgets, infiltrating the global markets is often considered almost next to impossible.

Getting a foothold overseas in the early stages, however, can be far easier than usually thought, according to local startups that have successfully debuted abroad.

 

(From left) Ahn Se-yunm, COO of selfie app firm JP Brothers; Shin Cheol-ho, CEO of smartphone wallpaper app company OGQ; and MJ Kim, director of note-taking app operator Social & Mobile. Google Korea

“From the beginning, we developed note-taking services targeting global markets, such as North America and Europe, by putting focus on practicality to cater to the tastes of users rather than on lovely and cute designs usually favored by Korean customers,” said MJ Kim, director of Social & Mobile, which runs the Color Note note-taking app, at a media event organized by Google Korea in Seoul on March 29.

The note-taking app, launched in 2009, has hit more than 120 million downloads and boasts 20 million monthly active users. Most notably, nearly 94 percent of its subscribers are from outside the Korean market.

Kim said the app developer also prioritized making Color Note compatible with both high-end and budget smartphones, taking into consideration the rising smartphone penetration in emerging markets such as India and Brazil.

Smartphone wallpaper app operator OGQ was also able to gain a foothold in global markets as it tried to tailor its services for overseas users from the outset.

“OGQ tried to entice global users by utilizing background images that reflect the cultural sensitivities of each nation and are uniquely appealing to locals,” said Shin Cheol-ho, chief of OGQ, who also participated in the event.

Emphasizing the importance of understanding the cultural and historical aspects of global regions, he mentioned a blunder that his company made a few years ago.

OGQ put up a black-and-white picture of an old railroad in Europe with a caption describing it as just a beautiful scenery, but a user complained pointing out that a number of Jewish people had been massacred by the Nazis in that area.

“We then realized that it is crucial to understand the hidden meanings behind various aspects.”

Ahn Se-yun, founder and chief operating officer of JP Brothers, which operates selfie app Candy Camera, echoed Shin, saying understanding the cultural aspects of each nation is “a crucial step but not an easy thing to do.”

For example, according to Ahn, selfie lovers in Korea want to make their eyes look bigger while Brazilian users want to flaunt a curvy figure with a smaller waist and ample hips.

JP Brothers’ Candy Camera selfie app has crossed 100 million downloads, and nearly 3 million pictures are taken a day through the mobile app in 234 nations.

The startup has also developed a Noah Camera selfie app, available on Facebook’s messaging app Messenger.

Ahn said JP Brothers would improve its profits through two new selfie apps to be released this year in global markets and in-app payment capabilities in the existing selfie app while trying to increase the number of subscribers to 200 million.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)