This article was posted on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove site on Feb. 27, 2025, at 3:23 p.m.
Saida Economy, the operator of an economic content platform, has secured new investments. Despite facing difficulties in securing funding amid high interest rates and an economic downturn, it has gained a strategic investor.
According to the venture capital (VC) industry on the 27th, Saida Economy recently secured a strategic investment from Earth Alliance, a financial information provider. This marks approximately three years since it raised a pre-Series A investment of 1 billion won with participation from History Venture Investment and Korea Asset Investment Securities in October 2022.
Saida Economy was launched in 2017 as a platform called “Saida Economy” that provides content such as card news and videos to help people easily understand financial economic knowledge. It has since steadily expanded its business areas through expert lectures and book publishing, and it is estimated to have achieved sales of about 4 billion won each in 2023 and last year.
The investment raising process is said to have been rocky. The venture investment market froze due to high interest rates and an economic downturn, and investments in economic content platforms completely dwindled after E-Broadcasting, better known for its YouTube channel “Sampro TV,” failed to list on the KOSDAQ.
E-Broadcasting gained great popularity in 2020, riding the wave of the stock market phenomenon known as the Donghak Ant movement. It was praised for providing high-quality investment information on behalf of individual investors. As the investments poured in, there were talks of a valuation of 1 trillion won for listing at one point. However, it could not clear the listing threshold even with a valuation of 240 billion won.
Earth Alliance is said to have highly valued Saida Economy's efforts to build a pool of economic experts beyond economic content, steadily broadening its business areas through offline lectures and publishing. Additionally, it is reported that they are considering a business collaboration model for co-producing economic and financial content.
Saida Economy noted, "The recent view count of videos on the YouTube channel 'Dalan Investment' operated by Saida Economy has surpassed that of Sampro TV, demonstrating its success," adding, "This investment is part of a share equity investment for strategic collaboration with Earth Alliance, which is centered on financial information."