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Since Seongsu-dong is an area densely packed with startups, I naturally find myself visiting often. It's also a neighborhood where you can notice changes with every visit. Of all these changes, the most striking are probably the frequent pop-up stores from various brands. From luxury houses to emerging startup labels, each brand is using Seongsu-dong's spaces to communicate their own identity and messages. It wasn’t too long ago that expressing identity and message through a physical space was not such a familiar idea. And as mentioned, these brand spaces have clear differences from traditional commercial areas. Where older commercial spaces simply had a physical function, today's brand spaces are recognized as an integrated piece of content that tells a story and stirs up emotion. This shift is now evident not only in brand spaces, but also in restaurants, accommodations, cafés, department stores, cultural venues, and many other places too.
Yet despite all these changes, the map services most people use to explore spaces don’t seem to have evolved much. Instead of capturing the unique qualities each space has to offer, they still focus only on quantitative details like addresses, directions, or opening hours—sharing this info one-way. It’s similar to how commerce used to be only about comparing product prices for purchase. But recently, new channels have emerged in commerce too, like curated platforms and live commerce that spotlight discovery and communication. These are allowing businesses to engage with consumers more actively. In contrast, when it comes to experiencing physical spaces, there’s still no effective channel to truly communicate the stories within those spaces.
Datetrip is building a 'space information curation platform' that helps convey the value of spaces in tune with shifting patterns of space consumption. At the heart of Datetrip is its curator community—people from various backgrounds like architects, photographers, and culinary experts, each bringing a unique perspective. Thanks to this diversity, even the same place—say, the main Shinsegae Department Store—can be interpreted as a luxury mecca, Korea’s first-ever department store, a festive Christmas destination, or as a media façade installation, all depending on the viewpoint, and shared with users accordingly. Through such content, Datetrip is introducing countless people to spaces and values previously unnoticed in daily life. And it’s not stopping there: both its user base and curator community are quickly expanding, not just in Korea but worldwide, including the US, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
There are still many challenges left to overcome for Datetrip to realize its vision. These include sustaining the growth of the curator community, reshaping how people perceive spaces, and overcoming constraints related to location—just to name a few. Yet, the biggest reason Base chose to partner with Datetrip from the seed investment stage was the team’s commitment to cultural change and building a high-quality community. They often say happiness isn’t just something you feel, but something you discover. We hope Datetrip can help people uncover hidden values in overlooked places in daily life, and, through that, enrich the lives of many around the globe.
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