At our annual Google for Korea event today, we showcased some of the most inspiring Korean creators and entrepreneurs. I also had the chance to sit down with the founders of two standout startups: AI FOR PET and Blip. Since their start, both have won over not just the people of Korea, but people all over the world.

AI FOR PET, founded by Huh Eun-A, has developed a smartphone app called TTcare that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to assess pets’ health. When someone takes a picture of their pet’s eyes or skin, the app assesses the image and alerts the owner if their pet is showing any concerning symptoms of eye or skin related disease. AI FOR PET was a part of this year’s Google for Startups Cloud Academy and the ChangGoo program.

Blip, founded by Kim Hong-ki, is a content platform for Korean pop (K-pop) fans to keep track of their favorite idols - including their latest updates and tour schedules. Blip, which participated in the 2021 ChangGoo program, has amassed over a million downloads on Google Play, to date. 60% of those downloads are from users outside of Korea.

So, what inspired the beginnings of your startup?

Huh Eun-A: I’m a pet owner, and know very well that like all living things, pets will fall sick at some point in their lives. I want to help fellow pet owners quickly diagnose any illnesses their pets may have, simply by using the TTcare mobile app. My hope is for animal lovers around the world to never be in the dark about their pet’s health, and for no pet to ever be without healthcare.

Kim Hong-ki: K-pop artists bring so much positive influence to fans all over the globe. I built Blip to help fans feel closer to their favorite K-Pop artists, and to let them experience the world of K-pop in a new way. My aspiration is for Blip to one day become a verb, and for people to ask the question “Who do you Blip?” instead of “Who do you love?”

What challenges did you face while growing your startup, and how did the ChangGoo program help you?

Kim: Blip’s key challenge was growing our user base of K-pop fans, and we wanted to understand how we could do that in a global and sustainable way. Google’s ChangGoo program seemed like a good place to start because it’s a well-known, highly-sought after accelerator program among Korean startups. And so in 2020, we applied to join the program with a beta version of our app but failed to get selected. That motivated us to work hard to improve the product. The next year, we tried again and were accepted. The entire Blip team was thrilled!

To me, ChangGoo feels like a program created by people who truly want to help startups. The mentors deeply cared about Blip’s team and needs, much like supportive K-pop fans. They provided insights and advice that helped us whenever we weren’t sure of our next steps.

What made you join the Google for Startups Cloud Academy, and how did the program help you?

Huh: Building out our AI was core to our product. We developed our model by first exposing it to more than a million photos of eyes so it could differentiate between canine and non-canine eyes, and then exposing it to canine eyes with and without diseases. It only took us a year to develop the model by using TensorFlow, Google’s open-source AI tool that’s accessible to all developers.

But as important as the technology was, we wanted to make sure the app experience itself was high quality, too. So we reached out to the Google for Startups Cloud Academy to help us improve the app performance - and we even got support from the very team who initially developed TensorFlow! Now, we're able to detect canine ocular disease with just a single photo at 90 percent accuracy.

The growth you’ve seen so far is really amazing! Can you share any upcoming plans for your startup?

Huh: We’re training our AI model with cat data, so that cat owners - in addition to dog owners - can use our app. We're also exploring adding capabilities to detect skin and joint conditions in pets. We’ve recently expanded to the US, and hope that with our technology and reach, we can help demonstrate that Korean startups can build great products for the whole world.

Kim: I’ll be focusing on my employees’ wellbeing. My aspiration is for Blip employees to love their job as much as our fans love their favorite artists on Blip. After all, the slogan of Blip is “Love what you love more”. I want Blip to be a workplace where every employee can do what they love and really enjoy themselves.

In Korea today, a new generation of startup founders are making their mark — continuing Korea’s long tradition of forward-thinking in technology, building a more diverse Korean economy and contributing to the recovery from COVID-19. 

Supporting these founders is a priority for Google in Korea, part of our mission to help improve Koreans’ lives and give Korean businesses a platform to grow. In 2015, we established a Google for Startups Campus in Seoul — our first in the Asia-Pacific region — to support founders and create a sense of community among startups. And in 2019,  we launched ChangGoo, a training and mentorship program for startups with high potential and ambitions to expand internationally. So far, startups that have graduated from the program have seen their revenue increase by more than 50%, while more than 40% have taken their first steps overseas. In 2020, ChangGoo became an official partnership with the South Korean government, and we recently finalized the group of startups that will take part in 2021.  

The startups we work with through ChangGoo are confronting issues and solving problems that affect millions of Koreans —  and many more people around the world. To get a sense of what drives them, we asked for perspectives from the founders of Mfort, creator of a platform to help working mothers access childcare, and Ringle, which is using technology to help people with difficulties learning new languages.  

Jeeyea Chung 정지예, Mom Sitter

My colleague suddenly left the meeting room where we were preparing the final presentation for an important project. I took a short break and heard her on the phone in the restroom on my way back. She was brilliant and considered a role model among her peers, but she sounded tearful when talking on the phone. Her child had a fever and she was begging her mom to go collect them from school, because she couldn’t leave work — and neither could her husband. 

That happened in 2012, when I was 26, and it came as a big shock. I aspired to build my career at the same consultancy, have a family like hers and raise beautiful children while doing a great job at work. 

My married friends were thinking seriously about whether they had to quit work when they had a baby, even before they were pregnant. My co-workers with children had depression, or became anxious that there was no quota at a daycare center. They felt weary trying to balance doing a good job with taking good care of their children as a working mom. At the national level, it all added up: Korea’s female activity rate is very low compared to other OECD countries, affecting productivity despite significant investments in education.  

I realized I wanted to find a way to address this challenge, and that awakening led me to create Mom Sitter: a platform that connects parents with babysitters.  After working hard to grow user numbers to 850,000, and becoming the leading platform in the nation, we wanted to expand further with a mobile app. The ChangGoo program gave us support with technology development, access to educational seminars and help with app and YouTube marketing — enabling us to increase awareness of our brand. It was a proud moment when we were selected as a top service in the second year of Changoo, and earned the top ranking in the Play Store’s childcare category for Korea. 

I’ve realized that childcare issues concern not only working women but also all those who raise children, including dads and grandparents.. If they have strong backup , they can finish the childcare marathon, just as Mom Sitter has gained energy from Google’s support in the competitive startup environment. 

Seunghoon Lee 이승훈, Ringle

I believe many of us living and working in non-English speaking countries must have the same frustration —  that if only we spoke better English, we might enjoy a whole new world of opportunities. At school, I didn’t spend much time learning English with a native speaker – perhaps 10 hours spread over 12 years of learning. At college, I couldn’t find a good language learning service to close the gap with more fluent English-speakers who’d spent time overseas. 

My frustration peaked in my mid-30s. While doing an MBA at Stanford and seeing others experience the same challenges, I worked with a buddy I met on campus to create a product that could help improve English communication skills through one-on-one lessons with student tutors. 

We had early success and attracted our first investors, but increasing users was a unique challenge. To expand quickly, we had to market Ringle to people who might want to use the service while simultaneously adding helpful new features. Google helped us with search engine optimization and marketing support — then we were awarded a grant of KRW 23 million ($220,000) under the ChangGoo program, helping us expand even faster.

Ringle has grown three-fold every year for the past five years. We recently closed a funding round that valued us at $180 million and opened a US headquarters in Silicon Valley. We’re looking forward to continuing to strengthen our bond with Google as we seek to become the platform of choice for English learners in non-English-speaking countries.