Han Seung-min, who was planning an exhibition at an art museum on the theme of "Things That Are Disappearing," faced a turning point in his life in 2021 when he adopted Tangi, a retriever. While volunteering at a rescue center for abandoned dogs, he discovered a clear problem: the root cause of abandonment and abandonment was the lack of content that fostered human-animal bonds. This led him to found Viva Insight in February 2022.
Busan is the first metropolitan city to enter the depopulation crisis. Representative Han believes that building pet tourism infrastructure in his hometown of Busan to attract residents and tourists is a realistic solution.
"My past exhibition planning experience has laid the foundation for my current business model, which analyzes target audience needs and designs compelling offline experiences."
"Mongkok" is a life developer platform that designs the daily lives of you and your dog. It focuses on creating an environment where dogs of all sizes can enjoy themselves without discrimination. Since its launch in August 2025, just over two years ago, it has surpassed 10,000 users and sold 18 specialized content pieces. Collaborations with global brands like BMW and MINI are also ongoing.
He explained, "While existing platforms simply list locations, Mongkok directly plans and provides purposeful offline experiences, such as temple stays and surfing." He added, "The AI-based walking navigation currently in development goes beyond simple GPS tracking. Through behavioral pattern analysis, it extracts high-quality health activity data that can be linked to insurance companies."
Following the first East Asian event held at Dadaepo Beach in 2023, "Beach Mong Splash" will be held at Solgae Beach in Ulsan in September 2025. This unique IP combines marine leisure activities with pet culture. As a marine event, the presence of a professional veterinarian and rescue personnel is a prerequisite.
"The clear criterion for content planning is whether it goes beyond simple companionship and whether both dog and human can enjoy it together."
The success of these offline content initiatives has naturally led to increased traffic to the Monkok platform, with customer retention reaching 60 percent.
"Mongkok Temple Stay," a collaboration with Busan Hongbeopsa Temple of the Jogye Order, sold out within two months of its launch. It tapped into a market shortage: a desperate need for spaces where people could quietly interact with their dogs. The temple was persuaded by the justification that it was a modern extension of its missionary work, one that respects all life.
The core target is pet owners seeking an active lifestyle. Large dogs, in particular, face significant challenges due to restrictions on movement, lodging, and access. Mongkok prioritizes large-dog-friendly infrastructure because addressing these pain points can secure loyal customers.
The current market is defined by connected experiences and hyper-personalization. Many parents rely solely on online information and experience disappointment. Mongkok resolves information asymmetry by curating only local data, verified through direct experience.
Busan possesses numerous local resources, including marine tourism resources, that are advantageous for specialized pet tourism. Being selected as a Busan Tourism Startup and Korea Tourism Organization tourism venture has proven the viability of the business model.
As an honorary animal protection officer for Busan City, CEO Han experienced abandonment and abuse firsthand. This experience helped him gain a policy perspective that addresses pet-related regulations, policies, and practical issues within the business structure in a legal and practical way.
Mongkok's growth strategy is driven by a clear three-stage roadmap.
First, there's the content stage. By directly planning irreplaceable offline experiences like dog surfing and temple stays, we build strong market trust and a strong fan base. This process accumulates high-quality, verified local data.
Second, the platform stage. This involves internalizing offline event participation into in-app activities to increase customer retention. Based on accumulated data, the platform provides customized curation services that address information asymmetry. This is the process of seamlessly connecting offline experiences with digital convenience.
Third, the technology stage. Beyond its own app ecosystem, it connects its unique vertical data with major fintech and AI ecosystems. The AI-based walking navigation currently under development isn't just a technological showpiece. It's a key medium for extracting behavioral data that can be immediately utilized for calculating insurance premiums and providing customized benefits.
"The most challenging aspect of this transition is bridging the gap between the offline, real economy and digital technology. We are avoiding blind technological development and focusing strictly on the business utility of data."
The key goal is to complete a system that effectively links this behavioral data to the product models of major insurance companies within the next one to two years, thereby providing direct financial benefits to guardians.
Representative Han currently serves as chairman of the Korea Pet Venture Forum, which includes approximately 60 participating companies. He established the forum to ensure fair opportunities for local startups and to centrally connect them with government agencies, contributing to industry revitalization.
"For the pet industry to grow healthily, an ecosystem that fosters a mature pet culture, rather than blind commercialization, is essential."
Collaboration prioritizes coexistence with the local community and society over short-term profits as a key partner requirement.
Mongkok has completely moved beyond simple B2C booking fees and low-margin commerce structures. Its current revenue structure is centered on the sale of high-value-added offline original content, diversified into B2B marketing agency services, and local government B2G contracts.
In particular, leveraging our unrivaled local data and partner infrastructure, we've built a pet insurance partnership model with major financial institutions. Thanks to this high-value-added pivot strategy, recently planned content has sold out continuously, significant partnerships have followed, and both sales and operating profit are on a clear upward curve.
We are currently seeking new investment to scale our proven local model and data finance integration model nationwide. We will not solely rely on external venture capital (VC) funding for funding. We plan to strategically leverage government R&D and scale-up support funds to effectively mitigate the costs of technological advancement. At the same time, we are building a self-sustaining and balanced financial ecosystem, reinvesting the robust cash flow generated from our B2B and B2G businesses into our platform.
He emphasized, “Within five years, Viva Insight will have grown into Asia’s leading pet life developer,” and “Our ultimate vision is to create a complete and natural coexistence ecosystem through Mongkok, where the term ‘dog companion’ itself is unnecessary.”
"The current pet tourism market simply lists accessible locations. Mongkok will transform the industry paradigm by elevating this to a personalized experience for pets through its unrivaled content planning and proven local data."
Building on the local business model proven in Busan, we are pursuing nationwide expansion this year. Our long-term goal is to export Mongkok's core assets—original content IP and the data tech business itself—to the global market.
Beyond simply attracting inbound tourists, the company plans to pursue global scale-up from a B2B perspective, licensing proven specialized content IPs, such as dog surfing, to major Asian countries and supplying behavioral data-based pet finance solutions to overseas fintech and insurance markets.
CEO Han offers clear advice to aspiring entrepreneurs who dream of starting a pet-related startup.
"We can't survive on cute ideas and sentiments alone. We need to focus on structurally addressing the real needs our caregivers face."
As of 2026, Viva Insight's top priority is to nationalize its secured killer content IP and successfully establish a pet insurance data partnership model with major financial institutions, thereby creating a turning point for explosive growth.
The persistence of an entrepreneur who started out as a volunteer rescuer of abandoned dogs and expanded into solving local issues in Busan and building a pet-friendly ecosystem is drawing attention to how he will transform the pet tourism market, which has remained largely analog.
You must be logged in to post a comment.