Taking the First Step Toward Entrepreneurship…2024 Startup Express Summer Season

On June 7th, the '2024 Startup Express Summer Season' (hereafter 'Startup Express'), hosted by the Korea University Business School (Dean: Kim Sang-yong) and the Startup Research Institute (Director: Moon Jung-bin), was successfully held at the LG-POSCO Business Hall. 'Startup Express' is an annual student entrepreneurship competition held every summer and autumn by the Seung Myungho Entrepreneurship Education Center. The purpose of this competition is to propose creative business ideas based on entrepreneurial spirit and innovation and to discover promising startup teams with excellent business potential. 

This year's event featured △Moon Jungbin, Director of the Startup Research Institute △Kim Youngkyung, Director of the Iljin Startup Support Center △Park Jingyu, Director of the Seung Myungho Education Center, along with △Lee Seungpyo, Director of the Iljin Global R&D Center △Yoo Wonkyung, Team Leader of the Business Planning Team at the Korea Times △Hwang Junhyun, Team Leader of the Online Service Team at Donghwa Enterprise △Shin Myungcheol, Partner at Kingsbay Capital and Professor at KUBS △Baek Jiseung, Senior Manager at LG Energy Solution △Kim Ikjung, Co-founder of Taling, who participated as judges. Particularly, Kim Ikjung, a co-founder of Taling and an alumnus of the 1st batch of resident companies at the Startup Research Institute, added significance by judging the 10 teams to be selected through this Startup Express. 

 First, Director Moon Jungbin of the Startup Research Institute stated, “I sincerely welcome all of you who are here to select the 17th team to join the Startup Research Institute.” He expressed his gratitude to the judges for their fair evaluations to discover excellent teams every time. Director Moon also encouraged the participants by saying, “I hope you will fully showcase your startup ideas here today.” Then, Director  of Seung Myungho Entrepreneurship Education Center, Park Jingyu introduced the Startup Research Institue, and the presentations of the 13 teams began in earnest. 

In the first session, 6 teams, and in the second session, 7 teams presented their startup ideas. Among the numerous teams that applied for this Startup Express, the team names and startup ideas of the 13 finalists are as follows.  

 ▶A one-on-one learning matching service for children with borderline intelligence. (Nuruing) ▶A high-end traditional Korean liquor manufacturer restoring and mechanizing the brewing techniques of Korean nobility artisans. (Woori) ▶A platform for verifying the reliability of hiring foreign workers. (Filter Match) ▶A smart transportation solution platform. (Handy Bus) ▶A B2B platform for predicting agricultural product sales and distribution. (Daebong) ▶A customized digital education service (Tech is Life).▶ A feedback platform for improving the products and services of small business owners. (Feedbacker) ▶Personalized AI photo services. (Genti) ▶An AI-based chat learning assistant platform. (Flick) ▶A personalized AI social robot that sees, hears, and speaks. (ATLO) ▶An AI service for streamlining the process of pattern design. (Astis) ▶An AI music platform that allows users to choose the voice for their desired songs. (Homebrew) ▶An AI service that simplifies the process of patent filing by patent attorneys. (Patent Go)  

After the presentations, which were conducted with a 5 minute presentation and a 5 minute Q&A, the judges evaluated each team on △problem definition △business model △capabilities and determination, and selected the resident teams. The Seung Myungho Entrepreneurship Award was given to 'Homebrew' for its AI music platform, and the Iljin Startup Award went to 'Patent Go' for its AI service that simplifies the patent filing process by patent attorneys. The 'ChuChu Entrepreneur Award' presented by Kim Ikjung, co-founder of Taling, to his juniors, was awarded to 'Daebong' for its B2B platform for predicting agricultural product sales and distribution. The Encouragement Awards went to ▶FilterMatch for its platform verifying the reliability of hiring foreign workers ▶Flick for its AI-based chat learning assistant platform ▶ATLO for its personalized AI social robot that sees, hears and speaks.  

Concluding, Director Moon Jungbin encouraged the participants by stating, “Recently, there is talk about the 'drying up of startup funds' due to the shrinking venture capital investments, making the startup environment challenging. However, challenging means that there is only room to improve in the future.” He also observed, “Looking at the teams presenting today, many have utilized generative AI. This suggests that the emergence of generative AI is creating a more favorable environment for startups.” 

Meanwhile, all the teams, including those who received the Encouragement Awards, will be given the opportunity to reside at the Iljin Startup Support Center at the Startup Research Institute. The Startup Research Institute will select a total of 10 teams and hold the 17th Startup Research Institute residency ceremony on July 2nd.