Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development selects 20 promising Korean startups to operate ‘SWITCH 2022’ K-STARTUP Joint Hall. Support in entering markets of Southeast Asia and Singapore through the participation of additional events like SLINGSHOT Pitching Contest and Demo Day
The Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development (KISED, President Yong-moon Kim) revealed that 20 Korean startup companies will be attending ‘SWITCH (Singapore Week of Innovation and TeCHnology) 2022’, which opened on October 25th (Tues) in Singapore, to operate the K-STARTUP hall.
Starting in 2016 and having its 7 iterations this year, ‘SWITCH 2022’ is Singapore’s leading global startup exhibition, where startups from around the world can meet with influential investors from Southeast Asia and Singapore region and will be held until the coming 28th. It will be composed of events like conferences, networking, and a pitching contest (SLINGSHOT), and the categories will be divided into:
- manufacturing industry and trade
- healthcare and bio
- environmental energy and Greentech
- innovative digital technology
- and consumer media and product services
In 2021, there were 247 conference sessions, around 15,000 visitors, around 300 investors, and 586 presenters.
The K-Startup Hall at SWITCH 2022
The Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development (KISED) and Korea SMEs and Startup Agency’s (KOSMES) Singapore KSC (Korea STARTUP CENTER) are jointly forming a K-STARTUP hall and will be showcasing the technology of promising Korean startups to overseas buyers and investors. The startups that are attending will be taking part in various programs, like exhibition booth operating, demo day, investor meetings, and a pitching contest.
A total of 20 companies, which are VideoMonster, Aimbelab, Cakeplabs, GoQba Technology, Doomoolmori, DRIMAES, Sunny Side Up, Retimark, Meissa, Monnit Korea, Nuvilab, DABIDA, Lighters Company, MicrobiotiX, MORAI, Barunbio, CESeL Primus, AIZEN Global, Coconut Silo, and Quota Lab, will be attending the exhibition.
To create real results from attending the exhibition, KISED and KOSMES’ Singapore KSC have operated on and offline one-on-one mentoring programs with local experts for 4 months starting from the past July, to improve the English pitching skills of attending startups and to verify the market suitability of the products and services.
On October 25th, there was a Market Access program at the event site with the theme of ‘Riding the entrepreneur wave the Korean Startups’, and people like Tony Han, the COO of CoconutSilo, Jin-woo Lee, the operation manager of Hyundai Cradle Singapore, and Min-gu Lee of Singapore Branch of Korea Ventures Investment Corp. were in attendance.
At the main event, the SLINGSHOT Pitching Contest, 3 companies from the K-STARTUP hall, VideoMonster (CEO Dong-hyuk Chun, AI video recognition technology based Vlog auto editing APP service), Aimbelab (CEO Byung-soo Go, feed management and data platform utilizing big data and IoT), Cakeplabs (CEO Joo-hyun Oh, fin-tech technology applied used goods market and community platform). They made it to the semifinals (TOP 50) and will showcase the innovative technology of Korea’s startups for 2 days between the 25th and 26th. If they pass the semifinals and get selected as the TOP 10, they have the opportunity to go to the finals on the 27th.
In addition, there will be around 100 people, including Singaporean and global investors and managers of investment-related institutions, present at the K-STARTUP demo day event on the 26th, where there will be IR pitching and networking for Korean startups to attract investment.
Through the application to attend SWITCH 2022 in Singapore, we expect that Korean startups will have their technical capabilities and innovativeness recognized globally and gain prestige, and even draw the attention of investors to attract actual investments as well.
Yong-moon Kim, the president of KISED
Having its 7th iteration this year, ‘SWITCH 2022’ is a global startup exhibition hosted by Enterprise Singapore, a public institution under the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry. The 20 Korean startups that are attending ‘SWITCH 2022’ were selected by 2 organizations in KISED and Singapore’s KSC Center (KISED 10, KSC Center 10). From October 25th to 28th, the attending startups will be in the main event, where they will take part in programs like operating the K-STARTUP demo booth, K-STARTUP demo day, investor meetings, networking events, and a pitching contest.
