Abstract
This paper describes MarkAny Co. Ltd. as an example of Korean academic start-ups, which have recently been attracting attention. Start-ups in South Korea had generally been smoothly progressing in the last 20 years, but the number of companies showed a steep increase until 2001 and an abrupt decrease starting in 2002 because of the collapse of the "card bubble". The national research institutes drove the development of industrial technology in the country in the 1970s and 1980s, during a period when technology was in its infancy, but their role needs now to be reviewed due to the increased influence of universities and private enterprises. MarkAny was established in the late 1990s, a time when many new start-ups were beginning, by students of Sangmyung University, Hankuk University for Foreign Studies, Yonsei University and Hanyang University along with some students from China. In spite of investments from Samsung Electronics and some Japanese and Korean VCs since 1999, the company experienced severe financial losses due to premature markets more than three times. Restructuring and revising strategy helped the company overcome these crises and resume its growth, particularly owing to the growth of the document security market since late 2003. MarkAny, with its efforts in technology and product development for new markets and its global strategy, is expected to enter another expansion phase.
