Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
Sendbird appoints new CEO for Asia-Pacific region
Lee Sang-hee
By Lee Kyung-min
By Lee Kyung-min
Sendbird, Korea's first unicorn startup in the field of business-to-business transactions, has appointed Lee Sang-hee as CEO of its Asia-Pacific region headquarters overseeing the firm's Korean business.
A unicorn refers to a privately held startup valued at over $1 billion (1.13 trillion won). The term was coined in 2013 with the mythical animal representing the statistical rarity of such successful ventures. Similarly, a decacorn is a word referring to startups valued at over $10 billion.
Sendbird is a global leader in chat application programming interface (API), which is a program that receives requests from a client or user and passes them on for processing by a server or database.
Lee joined Sendbird in 2015 after serving as a consultant at McKinsey & Company.
He also played a key role with the firm's Series A funding, the first significant round of venture capital financing mostly concerning the development stage, and Series B funding, the next round of financing for a startup that has met certain milestones.
Sendbird was recognized for its corporate value of $1.05 billion (1.17 trillion won) in April, followed by $100 million (110 billion won) in Series C funding, whereby investors inject capital into the business to receive more than double their initial investment in return.
Lee is expected to set up a vision and operation strategies that can best serve the firm's local customers, partners and employees.