Crowdfunding Report for October 27: NAU HOUSE Vacuum Cleaner Tops the List
Some 80 new crowdfunding projects debuted this week, ranging from cooling underwear priced in the 10,000-won range to a cordless vacuum cleaner costing 18 million won.
According to public data aggregation, a total of 80 crowdfunding projects were recently counted, involving 66 companies. With 66 companies behind 80 projects, that works out to an average of 1.2 projects per company — a structure dominated by small-scale players testing the waters with a single project. Only a handful of firms are pursuing a 'steady landing' strategy of consecutive projects: SMS Co., Ltd. with 5 projects, fashion brand LOOK AT ME with 4, and People Korea Inc. with 3. This gap illustrates the divide between companies using crowdfunding as a one-off sales channel and those leveraging it as a pathway for brand development.
Food and Home Appliances Dominate the Top Fundraising Ranks
In terms of funds raised, agricultural food products and home appliances stand out. NAU HOUSE Co.'s 'Samsung Battery-Powered Cordless Vacuum with Auto Dust Emptying, Up to 550W' took the top spot overall with 18.75 million won. Ongwa's 'King Peach' project also raised 15.7 million won, earning a top-tier spot as a single food product. IQBOX, offering a Playmobil space collaboration toy, collected 15.58 million won, while RunnerFit, promoting an 18,900-won running full set, raised 8.96 million won.
One notable pattern here is that 'low-priced, high-volume consumer goods' and 'high-priced, trusted appliances' are achieving results side by side. RunnerFit emphasized price competitiveness as an alternative to running vests in the 100,000-won range, while NAU HOUSE leaned on the component reliability of a Samsung battery. This suggests that consumers in crowdfunding demand 'verifiable specifications' as justification to open their wallets for both cheap consumables and expensive durable goods.
The Rise of AI Tool and Content Clusters
A newly observed trend in the industry distribution is the collective emergence of AI tool projects. Sokon's AI shorts content production raised 3.8 million won, Algorixm's 'Monetization System Built with AI, Even for Non-Developers' brought in 1.79 million won, and Soosak Tool's AI short-form maker also made the list. Unlike hardware items such as Troika's massager or Gclicker's mechanical keyboard, these products share a common focus: the same demand for 'content production automation.' As the creator economy expands, this reads as a signal that purchasing production tools has established itself as a consumer category in its own right.
Distinctive results also emerged in content and publishing. Audiobooks' Buddhist sutra audiobook raised 4.58 million won, proving the paying power of niche content. Simyeon's Library, which published tarot and numerology textbooks, collected 1.62 million won and 2.97 million won across two projects — a case pointing to the formation of a repeat-purchase base.
Encore and Seasonal Strategies Make or Break Success
Projects explicitly touting multiple rounds of encore (restock) sales catch the eye. People Korea advertised its 25th encore of glossy towels and 22nd encore of hair towels, while Fruit Meister stressed season-limited scarcity with 'new-variety apples and grapes you can only get for one month.' The former drives sales through loyal customers' repurchases, the latter through rarity. This is where crowdfunding is seen shifting its character from a one-time funding platform to a pre-order and community commerce model.
However, the overall fundraising distribution is extremely skewed. Projects raising over 10 million won remain few and far between, while a substantial number fall below 100,000 won — SMS's fast charger stalled at around 70,000 won. In other words, top projects pull the average sharply upward. As Benjamin Franklin said, reputation is built on many good deeds but destroyed by a single failure. For companies relying on repeated encores, quality control is the very condition of brand survival.
Outlook: The Fate of the Winter Season and the AI Category
Given that the data was compiled in late October, seasonal items such as cooling underwear, mini cooling fans, and summer fruit are likely to be quickly replaced by winter goods once inventories run out. Summer items like LOOK AT ME's cooling underwear (490,000 won) and SMS's cooling fan (140,000 won) are highly likely to give way to insulation and heating categories next quarter.
Whether the AI tool group can establish itself as a sustainable category is the key variable for the coming half year. Current results ride on content production demand, but given the market's abundance of subscription-based competitors, sustaining monetization through one-off crowdfunding seems difficult. Even so, the trend of individual sellers and small businesses fundraising around AI is expected to continue for some time. The clearest conclusion from this batch of 80 projects is that the crowdfunding market is functioning not around specific hit products, but as a 'product validation stage for small businesses.'
