Proptech / real-estate listings & smart home·South Korea
New to Unitard
✂️ Markdown
Peak $1.92 BillionToday
~-88%
from peak
🦄
Became a unicorn
Jun 2022
📈
Peak valuation
$1.92 Billion ’22
💔
Became a Unitard
Mar 2026
💸
Last valuation
~$230M
Current status
Reported marked at ~KRW 300B (~$200M) in a 2026 Altos Ventures secondary buy; IPO shelved; company says it turned profitable in H1 2026; operating
The rise & fall
9 moments · 2010–2026
The key moments.
Nov 2010
🌱
Nov 2010
Founded in Seoul as Channel Breeze by accountant Ahn Sung-woo
Ahn Sung-woo, a Samil accountant turned BlueRun Ventures analyst, set up Channel Breeze on Nov 19, 2010; the Zigbang app launched in January 2012 with photographed one-room rental listings, and the company took the app's name in October 2015.
iNews24 / Sedaily CEO&Story
Dec 2015
Dec 2015
Goldman Sachs consortium puts in KRW 38B at about KRW 200B$170M
A Goldman Sachs-led consortium invested KRW 38B in December 2015, nine months after eight VCs had put in KRW 21B at roughly KRW 100B; Sedaily later put the Goldman round's valuation at about KRW 200B.
Platum / Sedaily
Jul 2019
Jul 2019
KRW 160B round at about KRW 715B — Korea's biggest proptech raise$610M
Goldman Sachs PIA, Altos Ventures, Stonebridge Capital, DS Asset Management and Yuanta led a KRW 160B round in July 2019; Dealsite put the post-money at KRW 715B (pre-money KRW 595B). Zigbang used the money to roll up Hogangnono, Woozoo and Nemo.
Econovill / Dealsite
Jul 2021
Jul 2021
Listed as Korea's 12th 'unicorn' by the SME ministry
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups counted Zigbang among 2021's new unicorns; Sedaily put the valuation in Goldman's early-2021 stake sale to Altos Ventures at 'approaching KRW 1T', under US$1B at 2021 rates. A June co-brokerage launch drew broker pushback.
ZDNet Korea / Sedaily
Jan 2022
Jan 2022
Signs to buy Samsung SDS's home-IoT unit: door locks and wall pads
On Jan 27, 2022 Zigbang agreed to take over Samsung SDS's home-IoT unit, Korea's top wall-pad and digital-door-lock maker with exports to 16 countries; the price was not disclosed (2026 reports put it near KRW 100B). The deal closed on Jul 27, 2022.
ETNews / KED Global
Jun 2022
📈
Jun 2022
The peak: KRW 2.5T (~$1.92B) pre-IPO led by Korea Development Bank$1.92B
KDB (KRW 50B), IMM Investment (KRW 40B) and Hana Financial Investment (KRW 10B) invested KRW 100B at a KRW 2.5T post-money on Jun 30, 2022, down from the KRW 3T Zigbang had sought in March, plus up to KRW 60B in KDB/Shinyoung loans for the Samsung SDS deal.
ZDNet Korea / Sedaily
Nov 2023
Nov 2023
Losses top KRW 37B a year; brokerage arm cuts over half its staff
Operating losses jumped from KRW 8.2B in 2021 to KRW 37.1B in 2022 and KRW 37.8B in 2023 as apartment deals dried up; in November 2023 subsidiary Zigbang Partners asked more than half of its ~140 employees to resign. The KRX filing planned for 2023 never came.
NewDaily / The Herald Business
Mar 2026
📉
Mar 2026
Altos buys ~3% at ~KRW 300B — joins the Unitard Club 💔$200M
Chosun Biz reported on Mar 16, 2026, citing IB sources, that Altos Ventures had bought about 3% in the secondary market for KRW 10B, valuing Zigbang near KRW 300B (~$200M), 88% below the 2022 round; The Herald Business repeated it in July. No company comment.
Chosun Biz / The Herald Business
Jul 2026
Jul 2026
Fifth straight loss in 2025; company says H1 2026 was profitable
The DART audit report showed 2025 revenue of KRW 92.2B and an operating loss of KRW 12.1B (net loss KRW 64.6B after a KRW 47.1B write-off of subsidiary loans), EBITDA near breakeven; a Zigbang official told Sidae in July 2026 the first half was profitable.
Hankyung / Sidae
How it happened
Zigbang is a Seoul proptech company, founded in November 2010 as Channel Breeze by Ahn Sung-woo, a Samil accountant turned BlueRun Ventures analyst; its app, launched in January 2012, put photographed one-room rental listings on a phone and grew into Korea's largest real-estate platform, adding the apartment-data app Hogangnono in 2018.
Goldman Sachs and Altos Ventures backed a KRW 160B round at about KRW 715B in 2019, and in June 2022 a KRW 100B pre-IPO round led by Korea Development Bank with IMM Investment and Hana Financial Investment valued it at KRW 2.5T (about $1.92B).
The money funded a roughly KRW 100B purchase of Samsung SDS's home-IoT business — door locks and wall pads — which added manufacturing costs just as apartment deals and listing-ad revenue slumped: operating losses ran about KRW 37B a year in 2022 and 2023, a brokerage subsidiary shed over half its staff in late 2023, and the listing planned for 2023 never came.
Chosun Biz and The Herald Business reported in 2026, citing investment-banking sources, that Altos Ventures had bought about 3% in the secondary market for KRW 10B, valuing the company near KRW 300B (about $200M). Zigbang says it was profitable in the first half of 2026 and remains private and operating.
A small set of Glassdoor reviews noted management and culture concerns amid the proptech firm's financial strain.
Employee accounts paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗. See our methodology.
Source: ZDNet Korea/KED Global: KRW 100B pre-IPO (KDB 50B, IMM 40B, Hana 10B) at KRW 2.5T (~$1.92B) post-money, Jun 2022; Chosun Biz (Mar 2026) and The Herald Business (Jul 2026): Altos Ventures bought ~3% for KRW 10B at ~KRW 300B (~$200M) in the secondary market, per IB sources; DART audit report via Hankyung/MTN: KRW 92.2B revenue, KRW 12.1B operating loss in 2025, fifth straight loss; Edaily Market-in: KRW 328.5B (~$275M) raised through the 2022 round
