▲ AI PRISM* Personalized Economic Briefing
* Editor’s note: AI PRISM (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an artificial intelligence-based personalized news recommendation and summary service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and delivers six news items tailored to each reader type.
■ Washington networks: Reading the political mood in Washington, D.C., has been presented as the top priority for Korean startups preparing to enter the U.S. market. Anthony Kim, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, described the second Trump administration as “organized chaos” and stressed that building networks to get past multiple layers of gatekeepers matters more than ever.
■ AI in beauty devices: A beauty device startup that made its name with value-for-money products is strengthening its competitiveness with artificial intelligence. Almond&Co has built into its new product a function that diagnoses a user’s skin condition and automatically switches operating modes, and it has also embedded real-time analysis AI in a non-invasive injector for clinics and hospitals.
■ K-beauty ingredient acquisitions: Global chemical and ingredient distributors are buying up Korean cosmetics ingredient companies one after another. At home, however, complaints are surfacing that ingredient technology has not translated into a premium for domestically produced materials, leaving assessments at odds inside and outside the country.
1. Anthony Kim: “Korean Startups Entering the U.S. Must First Read the Mood in Washington”
– Key points: Anthony Kim, a research fellow at the U.S.-based Heritage Foundation, stressed that grasping the political mood in Washington, D.C., is critical for Korean startups seeking to enter the U.S. market. Speaking at Korea Conference 2026 in Los Angeles on the 28th, Kim said that doing business in the United States requires knowing which way the wind is blowing in Washington and what season it is now. Kim also characterized the second Trump administration’s approach as “organized chaos,” saying it is far more organized than the first term but that the confusion is growing. Korea Conference is a nonprofit organization founded by Jenny Joo, who spent 28 years at major Wall Street financial institutions. On the same day, Asleep said it would introduce an AI sleep solution at a Bali hotel with Indonesia’s Lippo Group through the organization’s support.
2. The Value Cooling Stick That Lit Up Social Media: “This Time, With AI for Skin-Specific Care”
– Key points: Almond&Co, which drew attention with an affordable skin cooling device, is strengthening its business competitiveness with beauty devices that come with built-in artificial intelligence. The Ionic Cryo Stick, a home-use cooling stick and the flagship product of the company founded in 2021, has sold more than 40,000 units as of the end of last month, with revenue driven mainly by its own online store. The new product includes a function in which AI measures skin oil and moisture, elasticity and thickness to set the intensity and temperature of low-frequency stimulation, drawing on 20,000 pieces of skin data. Almond&Co Chief Executive Seo Min-jae said personalization is the strength a smaller company can offer amid rapidly shifting beauty trends, and set a goal of becoming the world’s top beauty device company by 2030.
3. Toss Securities, With Trading Value Up Eightfold, to Expand Data Centers
– Key points: Toss Securities is moving to expand new data center capacity in response to a surge in trading volume. The company placed orders in June and August this year for the DC4 network equipment and DC4 Palo Alto firewall projects, and plans to add servers and network equipment in phases while continuing to invest in graphics processing units (GPUs) as it expands AI services. Domestic stock trading value came to 692 trillion won in the first half of this year, up 695% from a year earlier, and net profit reached a record 2 trillion 368 billion won [Note: 236.8 billion won], while IT operating costs rose 94.7% to 28.1 billion won. Meanwhile, with complaints related to system failures rising from three to 14 in the second quarter, the Financial Supervisory Service has begun an on-site consulting review to examine the causes of repeated system failures and IT internal controls.
4. Amid K-Beauty’s Popularity, Global Giants Sweep Up Ingredient Companies
– Key points: Global chemical and ingredient distributors are acquiring Korean cosmetics ingredient companies one after another. IMCD of the Netherlands bought a 100% stake in Dongyang FT in January and then opened a beauty and personal care application laboratory and Beauty Studio Seoul in the capital, while Germany’s Brenntag signed a deal to acquire Woojin Trading on the 3rd of this month. BOLD, the venture fund of L’Oréal Group, invested 10.5 billion won in Korean biotech firm OliX in June to jointly develop solutions based on short interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) technology. A short launch cycle of six months to a year from planning to mass production is cited as a factor behind the trend, while critics in Korea say technological competitiveness has not translated into commercialization for the ingredient industry.
5. Mirae Asset Global Investments Tokenizes Covered Call ETF in Hong Kong With Citi, OSL
– Key points: Mirae Asset Global Investments has introduced the first case of tokenizing and distributing a covered call exchange-traded fund (ETF) it manages itself in the Hong Kong market. Its Hong Kong unit on the 27th of this month added a tokenized class to the Global X HSCEI Covered Call Active ETF together with Citibank in Hong Kong and digital asset platform OSL. The tokenized class maintains the existing fund’s investment structure and investor rights while applying blockchain technology to the holding and transfer of units. Classes are denominated in Hong Kong dollars and U.S. dollars, and the product is designed to pay monthly distributions. Citi handles operational tasks such as investor registration and unit transfers, while OSL provides access for institutional and retail investors through a virtual asset platform licensed by Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC).
6. Guesthouses and Dermatology Clinics Rise, Bars and Internet Cafes Fall
– Key points: The map of Seoul’s commercial districts is shifting as foreign tourist numbers rise and young consumers diversify their spending. According to the Seoul city government’s commercial district analysis service, sales in the district around Hongik University Station came to about 150.6 billion won in the first quarter of this year, up 1.0%, while the Sinchon-Ewha district fell 2.7% to about 112.8 billion won. National Tax Service data on the top 100 everyday business categories showed the number of business operators in Seoul as of June rose 1.19% from a year earlier, with pensions and guesthouses surging more than 40% while small drinking establishments, beer pubs and snack shops declined. Dermatology and urology clinics and skin care businesses increased, while internet cafes, karaoke rooms and billiard halls decreased. Meanwhile, 9.83 million foreign tourists visited Seoul from January to July this year, up 21.3%, and card spending rose 58.7% to a record 6 trillion 688 billion won.
▶Go to article: Warsh Shows His Hawkish Colors: Will He Stand Up to Trump’s Rate-Cut Pressure?
▶Go to article: Korea Zinc Control Dispute in Second Year of Deadlock, Set for Rematch at Sept. 9 Extraordinary Shareholders Meeting
▶Go to article: Lotte Chemical Raises Additional 60 Billion Won in All-Out Push to Secure Liquidity
#KoreanStartups#HeritageFoundation#KoreaConference#AIPRISM#KBeauty#BeautyTech
Original reporting by Ahn Hye-ji, Intern Reporter for Seoul Economic Daily.
AI-translated from Korean. Quotes from foreign sources are based on Korean-language reports and may not reflect exact original wording.
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