We make good things nearby easy to find.
joayo started with a simple observation: every neighborhood has a dozen places worth knowing about, and no one tells you which ones are good tonight.
Make your neighborhood feel like yours again.
Walk down any street in Seoul and you'll pass a bakery with surplus loaves at 8pm, a salon with a quiet Tuesday afternoon, a coffee shop that would love to see you before the morning rush ends. None of them know how to tell you that. You don't know how to find out.
joayo is the missing signal. For locals, it's the shortest path from "what's nearby?" to "claimed, see you at 6." For merchants, it's a way to fill slow hours and bring customers back without needing to run a marketing team.
We're deals-first and rewards-on-return. Not a punch card. Not a newsletter. A useful daily habit that happens to save you money and keeps the good small places in business.
How we got here.
- Jan 2026
Founded in Seoul
Two co-founders, one rented room in Euljiro, and fifty interviews with small business owners. We heard the same thing every time: empty chairs at 3pm, full chairs at 7.
- Apr 2026
Pilot in Seongsu
Launched with 48 merchants in one neighborhood. First week: 1,200 offers claimed. First month: three merchants told us they'd rehired staff.
- Aug 2026
Seoul-wide rollout
Expanded to 12 districts. Rewards shipped. Surprise bags pilot with 30 bakeries. First merchant case study published.
- Nov 2026
New categories live
Pilates, nail, and flower-shop categories join the feed. Small team grows with three new hires from the early merchant community.
- Today
Building what's next
Small team, deliberately. Every person ships, talks to merchants, and eats at the restaurants we serve. That's the bar.
Sized to the mission, not the hype cycle.
Twelve people in Seoul. Former operators, small-business owners, and product builders from Korea's biggest consumer apps. We hire for taste, care, and the ability to ship something a neighbor would use twice.
Deliberately small
No layers. Founders read the support inbox. Engineers visit merchants. The person who designed the app also reviews the offers that go live on Friday.
Built for daily habit
If you wouldn't open joayo on a random Tuesday, we haven't done our job. We optimize for the 2-minute use, not the 20-minute session.
Local at the core
We open neighborhood-by-neighborhood. We meet merchants in person. We answer to the owner-operators, not an algorithmic marketplace.
Want to work with us?
We're always happy to meet people who care about small places.