01

Korean Start-Up Chosen by Oxford with Five Hundred
Years of Publication History

With the rise of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the economy, society, and technologies are rapidly changing at a speed that mankind has never experienced before. In particular, the ICT (Information & Communication Technology) industry is developing and changing so fast day by day that we may hardly feel the speed of change. The publication industry is also changing rapidly as books were published as printed books before but are now published as interactive e-books in various formats. The Korean start-up iPortfolio, known better in other countries than in Korea, is at the center of the change.
iPortfolio is a start-up in the field of ed-tech* combining education and IT. Since iPortfolio released in 2012 Spindle Books, an e-book platform for English language education optimized for tablet PCs, it has been recognized as a start-up having solid technological competence. In particular, Spindle Books is drawing attention in the overseas market, as the sales in the these markets account for over 90% of the total sales.
Therefore, the business model of iPortfolio is different from that of other Korean companies. In contrast to the conventional business model where products are ordered by customers and produced and shipped by the producers, and the payment is requested, iPortfolio employs a platform book shelf type model to provide various e-book contents by means of cloud computing. This is an innovative model to receive a part of the profits as a technological royalty. Based on confidence in their own products, iPortfolio has successfully operated the business with solid partnerships with other enterprises. An interested person at Oxford stated that the user interface (UI) of Spindle Books developed by iPortfolio is even better than that of Apple iBooks, allowing the teachers and students to use the e-books conveniently.

02

Turning a Coincidence into an Opportunity

In the first year of the start-up when just four members began their business plan at a small corner of the Gasan Digital Complex, Spindle Books had just several authoring tools and an iPad viewer. Obtaining coincidently a chance to display the prototype of Spindle Books at 2011 Frankfurt Book Fair, they left for Germany without a special plan. However, even the prototype drew much attention at that time as the e-book technology was in its infancy. The relationship with Oxford also started there.

"An interested person at Oxford University Press watched our demonstration and gave us a name card. We just said, 'Oh, it's Oxford University Press,' and came back to Korea. About one or two months later, Oxford unexpectedly suggested that we make e-books together."
- Lee, Jong-huan, iPortfolio Vice President

So the coincidence became an opportunity and also created the relationship between iPortfolio and ETRI. ETRI is now giving various technological support and possibilities to provide a platform optimized to the EPUB (Electronic Publication) standards through tight-knit cooperation. Truly, "sincerity works." The working staff of iPortfolio call ETRI their second research institute with affection. Mr. Lee Jun-woo of ETRI also expressed his affection for iPortfolio, showing their friendly relationship with each other.

03

Technology Education with a Global Outlook Shakes
Old-Fashioned Education

iPortfolio challenged the international edu-tech market for English education and successfully debuted the market. Since it was adopted as the official digital textbook platform provider of Oxford University Press, the world's largest English education publisher, iPortfolio has provided the platform since 2015 to US, Middle East, Europe, and Central and South Americas. Currently, over 300,000 students in 50 countries are using the learning programs of iPortfolio, and the overseas sales amounted to about 1 billion KRW last year. In Korea, iPortfolio launched EBS Reading Club, an English education service developed through cooperation with EBS Media.
The edu-tech market in China has drawn huge attention from the world even from the stage of initial investment. The number of online education service users in China is predicted to become over 2 billion in 2020. iPortfolio received a love call first from Chinese enterprises and entered the Chinese market after making a contract with Oxford China.
The footprint left by iPortfolio is inspiring. It has the goals of making known the ICT of Korea, resolving the education gap between the rich and the poor through universal English education, and supporting free educational services. Now, Korea is flooded with start-ups. Just as the present era wants creative and innovative companies, the companies want practical and immediate support, breaking free from empty formalities and vanity. We wish for the birth of many more companies like iPortfolio that may touch our hearts.