ComeUp 2019 Comes To An End After A Successful 3-Day Event

South Korea’s biggest global-startup festival that began on 27th November’19 and ended on 29th November’19 was a big success. ComeUp 2019 was organized by the Ministry of SMEs. The event fulfilled its aim of not only strengthening the Korean startup ecosystem but also endorsed the value of Korea’s global startup ecosystem.

ComeUp 2019 witnessed various startup founders, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists from across the globe getting together to build a global network and sharing their win-win strategies. The various programs; pre-events, main events, side events, that were spread over a three-day schedule witnessed over 2700 visitors, 500 investors, 4000 companies from 58 countries. 

The opening panel talk on 29th November’19 was held by Junghoon Cha, Deputy Manager from the Office of Startup and Venture Innovation in Ministry of SMEs and Startups under the theme of the festival on the status of Korean startups. The discussion was also done on how to create a startup boom for both the private and public sectors.

Besides that, the sessions on Entertainment, Frontier Tech, FinTech, and Mobility were held with panel talks and lectures that included some eminent speakers from BMW, Google, and HK.

During the FinTech session, the CEO of Viva Republica (TOSS), Mr. Lee Seung Gun presented ‘FinTech’s competitiveness to protect contact with customers’. Among domestic FinTech companies, this is the first unicorn. Mr. Lee who completed his service after nine challenges is a graduate from Seoul University Dental School.

In the entertainment session, the executive director of SmartStudy, Mr. Lee Seung Kyu shared a few secrets about the company’s animated characters like ‘Pink Pong’ and ‘Baby Shark’. He also discussed the future of the entertainment industry.

(Image credit from  Kim Kwang Hyon, President of KISED)

Meanwhile, a list of final 8 companies was selected in the IR-pitching contest as excellent startups for every session held between 28-29 November. These companies have now the opportunity to interact with global startups at MWC 4yfn in Barcelona, Spain. 

The following companies were announced as the winners of the IR Pitching competition- ‘Development Food Co. Ltd.’ (Food Tech), ACBIO (Frontier Tech), ‘Knockout’ (Lifestyle), ‘Team Island’(Entertainment), ‘Skin’ (Bio& Health), ‘Cogny’ (FinTech), ‘Microsystem’ (Mobility) and ‘Biasweet’ (Beauty & Health). 

The ‘Development Food Co. ltd.’, a Food Tech company that develops and produces meat made from vegetable protein. Whereas, ‘Knockout’ creates a differentiated content on fitness to suit the customer’s trends and behavior patterns. ‘Skin’, a Bio & Health company develops tools to reduce surgical time by showing lesion and incision locations directly on the body. ‘Biasweet’, uses integrated data-driven models for production planning and design decisions.

The company, ‘Team Island’ used design-based 3D mapping technology to and an optical sensor for autonomous vehicles to create a video platform. ‘ACBIO’, a Frontier Tech company has developed a longer product life standalone AC battery. ‘Microsystem’, this mobility company has developed intelligent glass technology for removing pollutants. ‘Cogny’, this FinTech company that offers an online digital bank.

(Image credit from  Kim Kwang Hyon, President of KISED)

There were some additional events as well such as; “Day of Challenge”, “Global Maker Forum and Challenge”, “Korea-Sweden Social Venture Business Seminar”, “Korea Open Invitation Forum” and “Global Open Innovation Korea” which were very successful. At the “Global Open Innovation Korea” in association with KOTRA, a total of 1073 investment consultations were held.

ComeUp 2019 saw participation from diverse companies. Pak-Se-in, a graduate from Stanford, daughter of singer Soon-Yi, and founder of Knockout, a social fitness company won at the Edu-Tech & Lifestyle session in the IR Pitching Competition. Also, there was Alien Robot Co. Ltd. which is the first company in Korea to develop a robot Barista. Overall the event saw positive participation from various organizations.

Some big companies such as; Hyundai Motor Company and Samsung Electronics also visited ComeUp 2019 and expressed their interest in the numerous new technologies of startups. Officials from big companies showed a keen interest in participating in the next year’s event and extend their support for the startup companies.