Singapore has become the new springboard Korean companies use to foray into Southeast Asia. At a time when it has become virtually impossible to expand operations in China, Southeast Asia has emerged as a burgeoning new market and production base for Korean businesses.
Hong Kong too is losing its luster as a financial hub due to Beijing's tightening grip, so Singapore has emerged as a friendlier alternative. "Armed with capital and business-friendly environment, Singapore now comes to mind first for businesses seeking to enter the Asian market," a start-up entrepreneur said.
E-commerce companies and delivery apps, whose markets in Korea have become saturated, are particularly active in Singapore. The city state makes it easy to establish distribution networks and a high level of interest in Korean culture and food make Singapore even more appealing for Korean businesses.
Singapore's No. 1 online grocer, RedMart, is featuring products from Korean grocery delivery app Market Kurly. RedMart is a subsidiary of Southeast Asian e-commerce giant Lazada.
Korean e-commerce hub Coupang set up a Singaporean office last year in its first foray overseas since its foundation 11 years ago.
Woowa Brothers, which operates the food-delivery app Baedal Minjok, set up Woowa DH Asia in Singapore, a 50:50 joint venture with German delivery platform Delivery Hero. It oversees food delivery services in 15 countries in Asia. DH acquired Woowa in 2019.
Meanwhile Bear Robotics, which develops self-driving robots that use AI to serve food in restaurants, opened a Singapore office last month and is hiring software developers there to supply fast-food restaurants in Singapore after many foreign laborers left in the coronavirus pandemic.
Singapore's business-friendly environment is particularly attractive with a "Smart Nation" vision since 2014 that aims to attract tech-savvy start-ups. Foreign companies face little red tape in Singapore, not least when it comes to sending their earnings back to their home countries, while corporate tax is only 17 percent, which is lower than Korea's.
