COMEUP 2022 continued its success during its second day, core interests of startups were on the agenda, Lee Young, Minister of SMEs and Startups, and Khalid A. Al-Fali, Minister of Investment of Saudi Arabia visited booths and excited spirits, international exchange was made – And the agenda is here:
Avoiding pitfalls and promising connections
Future Talk opened the event on its second day, during which Chung Hyun-wook, CEO of Tech and Startup Media Bisexes, and Choi Hyuk-jae, CEO of Spoon Radio, a global personal audio broadcasting platform, had a casual fireside chat about no less than the “Road to Survival”. In a laid back fashion the two spoke of “war zones” and cold winters for those reliant on investments, as well as the dozens of other pitfalls that might obstruct the path of promising startups, and how to overcome them without going under in the “open sea”.
Key interests of startups and their ecosystem were also discussed, among them “regulatory innovation that startups want, when will it be possible,” “Is there a series B,” “a survival period for Korean startups to enter the global market,” and “global venture funds, where will it flow in the future”. These and more were spoken on by Korean as well as international experts and officials in lectures, panels and the like.
During the “Startup Valley”, 28 teams were on stage for IR pitching, and rookies were able to receive mentorship from senior startups such as the Pinkfong Company, My Real Trip, Megazone Cloud, Musinsa, Musicow, Backpacker, IGAWorks, Yanolja, WoowaBros, and Deel.
Larger companies, partially on a global level, as well as CVCs did reverse pitching, and promoted cooperations with the startups as well as proposals for business models during the open invitation program “OI Ground”. Google, Naver, Future Play, SAP also participated in a session held during the morning called “Startup, I’ll Do What You Want!”, in which they presented strategies for innovations and possible collaborations. The afternoon was under the theme “When startups invest in startups”, where opinions on virtuous cycle investments were shared.
The (international) agencies that cooperated to partake in COMEUP, held their own events as well. Asian, Vietnamese and Cambodian entrepreneurs and startups pitched their potential ideas in the 2022 Eco-Tone Award, and later in the afternoon a colorful exchange was held for international encounters. For instance, the African startup ecosystem was introduced by the Tanzania Startup Association, as well as the Indian equivalent in the FIRST Foundation.
An exciting event, that encouraged learning, cooperation, and healthy competition, there is more to COMEUP 2022 than a typical startup gathering!