South Korean Startups Overhaul Southeast Asia Strategy, Shift Focus to Singapore

Nuttycode, which operates the AI emotion-recording app Mymory, confirmed on the ground that approaching Southeast Asia as a single market is risky. Yoo Seong-oh, CEO of Nuttycode, said, "In South Korea, psychological counseling and emotional expression are natural among people in their twenties, but after meeting local users in Singapore and elsewhere, we confirmed that there are strong taboos around mental health and counseling."

Accordingly, Nuttycode plans to refine the app's tone and manner to account for cultural barriers, while also developing features tailored to the Ramadan period targeting Indonesia and Malaysia. Mymory's "ritual" feature is structured to pose daily questions over a set period, with users recording their answers. Yoo said, "We learned that Ramadan is an extremely important period locally, and there were many elements that align well with Mymory. For users in Indonesia or Malaysia, we could consider a format of asking and recording answers daily for a month."

Devunlimit, which operates the AI K-pop dance platform Sparky, decided to expand its dance game into the fitness category after receiving local feedback. CEO Jeong said, "In the Southeast Asia FGIs, we received feedback that users could use dance not as entertainment but as aerobic exercise or for obesity management. Since we gained insights from Google sessions that wellness and healthcare have high paid conversion rates, we will strengthen our exercise content." The company is also considering adding aerobic exercise features that allow users to track calorie burn.

AMUSE8, which operates the AI news briefing app Wolwol, confirmed through data and interviews in Singapore that the investor demographic is gradually getting younger. Shin Dong-min, CEO of AMUSE8, said, "We confirmed that young professionals in Singapore are showing deep interest not only in U.S. stocks but also in Chinese markets, and are actively investing in ETFs and gold. We will enhance our short-form briefings that intuitively connect stock chart movements with real-time issues."

The press conference also featured examples of how AI tools have dramatically accelerated startup development timelines. CEO Bae Su-hyuk said, "We built an app for Southeast Asia expansion with just one employee in two weeks. Thanks to AI tools, we've entered an era where one or two team members can rapidly test a country-level app without a massive organization."

Nuttycode also noted that when it first built Mymory two years ago, code had to be entered manually line by line, but now the company develops programs through natural language conversations. Devunlimit CEO Jeong explained, "When planners with domain knowledge of their industry and a clear problem-solving mindset use AI—rather than those with technical coding skills alone—the results are explosive."

The common conclusion among startups participating in this Immersion Trip is that the Southeast Asian market varies greatly by country in terms of purchasing power, culture, and usage patterns, making on-the-ground market validation essential. The process of re-validating hypotheses formed in South Korea with local data and user interviews is becoming established as the first step in overseas expansion.