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3rd Anniversary of GRaND-K Startup School in Seoul’s Hongneung R&D Special Zone (October 11, 2023)
- Date : 2023-11-30
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3rd Anniversary of GRaND-K Startup School in Seoul's Hongneung R&D Special Zone
GRaND-K Startup School, an audition-style startup support program organized by the Hongneung Special Zone Project Group together with key technology institutions KIST, Kyunghee University, and Korea University, opened its common education program in June 2023. The Startup School, which held its third annual contest this year, is a specialized Deep Tech technology startup and discovery program centered on government-funded research institutes and universities.
The Startup School’s second contest, held last year, featured outstanding technologies from 63 teams and drew in a total of 12.6 billion won in investments, with competitors winning the Grand Prize and Excellence Awards (Ministry of Science and ICT awards) at the National R&D Special Zone Integrated IR Competition. In particular, among last year's graduates, companies that have received more than 10 billion won in Series B investments this year have been emerging one after another, showing the excellence of the Startup School’s program participants.
This year, customized education and mentoring services, starting with a business diagnostic assessment, were provided to teams from the prospective and early startup tracks. In addition, 6 investment institutions have joined to help link excellent teams with follow-up investments, resulting in a total of 29 investment institutions supporting mentoring and investment attraction for the Startup School.
For the third Startup School contest, even more teams applied to take part this year compared to 2022. Of the 112 teams that submitted application documents, 68 passed the written evaluation stage, and prior to the start of the training, potential difficulties faced by each team were identified in advance through a business diagnostic assessment. Following that, the participants went through a six-week common startup training course on topics such as startup success stories in each field and the legal and investment capabilities needed for a startup, and then were matched with investment institutions for 1:1 mentoring. In particular, for 2023, the business item advancement and IR progress capabilities of prospective startup teams were strengthened through Business Model advancement training.
After mentoring was completed, the final screening stage took place on October 10 at KIST's headquarters in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, where the Grand Prize and Excellence Awards in the prospective and early startup categories were presented. A total of 47 teams (19 prospective and 28 early startups) participated in the competition, and following an evaluation by representatives of the Hongneung Investment Institutions Council, 10 teams advanced to the finals by category.
TruePixel, which received the Grand Prize for prospective startups, is a prospective KIST startup seeking to commercialize low-cost, high-resolution LiDAR sensors. Based on the fundamental technology for high-performance detection sensors that can detect single photons, Korea aims to lead the next-generation LiDAR sensor market in collaboration with domestic semiconductor companies.
Sialbio, which received the Top Award for Excellence for prospective startups, is a startup founded by a clinical professor at Korea University Anam Hospital that specializes in treating oral dryness for patients with the rare and intractable Sjogren’s syndrome, and is currently carrying out an assignment for the Korean Fund for Regenerative Medicine. Sialbio is currently applying for approval of a clinical trial plan after verifying the efficacy of its complex cell therapy, and aims to apply for a commercial clinical trial plan by December 2024 and obtain approval in the first half of 2025.
The Awards for Excellence for prospective startups were bestowed to Solution, a company that diagnoses and manages neurodegenerative diseases, and Real Draw, a high-quality webtoon production business utilizing AI.
Encouragement Awards for prospective startups were given to OddBooks, which provides AI-based audiobook services, Pulix, which offers B2B sales and purchase matching services, and HiLogis, an AI-integrated 6PL (Party Logistics) platform.
In the early-stage startup track, the Grand Prize was awarded to Earthform, a company that manufactures biodegradable packaging and cushioning materials using mushroom mycelium and agricultural and fishing byproducts for a sustainable world. Earthform’s products naturally decompose within 50 days under normal soil conditions and generate no harmful substances. Materials that are difficult to dispose of, such as sawdust, oyster shells, and potato peels, can be turned into raw materials through a simple crushing and sterilization process, making it possible to create a virtuous circle resource system. Earthform recently mass-produced four types of products, and plans to launch its mycelium-based packaging and cushioning products in the market from the second half of 2023.
Vsion, which received the Top Award for Excellence for early startups, is a PDLC smart window startup founded by smart window experts that has already expanded its business operations globally by setting up branches in Texas, Nagoya, and Ho Chi Minh just one year after its establishment. Vsion participated in the VIVA Tech exhibition held in Paris, France in June 2023 and is promoting the application of smart windows in vehicles and building construction in Europe through local investments and establishing factories in Europe.
The early startup Awards for Excellence were granted to HDM, which produces a beam projector touch system with built-in AI-based software, and QSIMPLUS, which develops equipment and network operation software for quantum communications.
The Encouragement Awards for early-stage startups were won by Witan Company, which researches biomaterials for the treatment of skin diseases, MyoPet, which develops refractory muscle and aging-related treatments, and Kirin, which develops automatic oil connection links for application in construction machinery devices.
Ki-Taek Jeong, Head of GRaND-K Startup School, commented, "The Startup School, which is already celebrating its third anniversary, has now become the center of innovative technology startups. We will establish a virtuous cycle system for Hongneung to establish itself as a global cluster by actively discovering and supporting excellent startup teams based on deep-tech technology."