Korean Startups presented top innovations at Slush
The latest edition of Slush, which brought up to 20,000 people to the Helsinki Exhibition Center for the second time after the pandemic, and there were representatives from startups and investor communities from different countries. One group that was well represented and organized was the Korean Startup Pavilion.
The Korean Institute of Startups and Entrepreneurship Development (KISED) had brought 20 Korean startups to Helsinki.
KISED, a public institution under the Ministry of SMEs and Start-ups, is responsible for promoting Korean start-ups. Since its founding in 2008, it has supported more than 60,000 start-ups and taken hundreds of startups to international events such as Websummit and Slush.
Below is a summary of the start-ups in the Korea Pavilion;
Virtual
The company has developed a new sterilization device for medical devices, which sterilizes devices used in surgery or dentistry with air circulation. The start-up claims that its method is superior to existing sterilization techniques such as EO gas, plasma or steam. The method uses OEH radicals very efficiently to achieve a simple disinfection process. The device does not need water, harmful gases or other solutions. One of the main target groups for this product is dental clinics and A Virtual already has several contracts with them.
AimbeLAB
This start-up has innovated an IOT device and application that can be used to monitor feed on farms. The IOT device installed in the feed silo collects information on the amount of feed, the consumption amount, the consumption method and the contamination of the feed. This real-time monitoring of feed data can help farms mitigate problems caused by feeding patterns and waste, increasing productivity.
No bottle
Bottleless wants to disrupt the plastic bottling and packaging industry for cosmetics and detergents. The company uses natural rubber instead of a plastic bottle, i.e. a rubber ball and a paper box. The components of this packaging take 6-30 months to decompose in nature, while plastic bottles take up to 500 years to completely decompose. Even when the package is “airless”, the contents of the balloon come off completely, and nothing is wasted.
Coconut silage
A Hyundai spinoff, this start-up is an innovation in the field of logistics/commercial vehicle mobility. An advanced freight logistics platform, Cocotruck connects all types of logistics market players in one place. The solution that utilizes big data increases efficiency and helps companies manage their resources digitally with the help of SAAS software.
Corevalue
This start-up has invented a portable hand-held camera that can take pictures of patients’ mouths, ears, noses and skin at home and transmit them to doctors or nurses for remote health diagnosis. The device can also be used for self-examination.
CRTlab
The company’s goal is to solve the problems of branding and company logos by matching designers and models to a company orientation. The platform uses artificial intelligence and human moderation to automatically generate logos, corporate branding reports and branding templates.
DDIBS
Using machine learning and dynamic pricing algorithms, this platform helps sellers conduct pre-sales market research to find out where their customers are and what they need. The platform also helps sellers find the right price for their products.
inDJ
inDJ is a music streaming radio app that uses numerous data feeds to recognize users’ emotions and suggest the right music for the right mood. The company focuses on K-pop and K-pop fans worldwide. The data used varies from weather conditions to vehicle data.
SPRINGS
KEVIT has a software/hardware solution for charging stations for electric cars. Customers can set the price based on kilowatt-hour use or time and publish their charging stations online through the Kevit platform. The electric car charging business is growing rapidly and healthy plug and play solutions are needed.
LBStech
The company has built a footpath data collection and sales platform that can be used for robot delivery services and other customers who need urban footpaths. The Way platform collects several footpath data, including accessibility and obstacle data.
Lighters Company
This startup introduced the KOOKy platform at Slush. Kooky is a K-pop platform and community space made especially for international K-pop fans. One unique service offered by the platform is fan-designed and supported projects. The platform helps, among other things, international fans to organize events. The platform consists of an app, a website, artist consulting, a data-driven concert, and content from collaborating creators and artists.
Mediaiplus
This start-up has built a matching service between pharmaceutical companies and clinical trial partners. Finding partners for clinical trials is a difficult task, currently done through websites or personal contacts. This is both time consuming and resource consuming. Mediaplus’s FICRO collects information from CROs that can fulfill requests from pharmaceutical companies. The startup provides a matching service between CROs and companies that need clinical trials.
Mobilio
Driving heavy vehicles is hazardous to the environment because drivers and operators do not have good visibility in all directions. Moving hydraulic parts of machines can easily lead to injury or death of workers or bystanders. Every year more than a thousand are injured and dozens die. Mobilio aims to mitigate this problem with a high-tech sensor and alarm package that can be retrofitted to any heavy machinery.
Next Meta
Instructional videos are used more than ever to teach or guide students or anyone on any subject. These videos are mostly one-way communication. Next Meta offers a tool to turn a traditional 20-40 minute video into short interactive episodes. Teachers can use the content builder to create a lesson.
Paprika
One of the problems of conducting an online survey is motivating the target group to participate by rewarding them while promising to remain anonymous. Paprika aims to solve this problem by acting as an intermediary and using disposable data wallets, which make it possible to reward survey participants or even ask them follow-up questions without revealing their identity.
RebuilderAI
Scanning objects to create 3D images has both industrial and entertainment uses. The most common method used by 3D scanners is LIDAR, which is slow and not always accurate. However, this startup has built an AI tool that can build a 3D image of any object and remove the floor with a video from your phone in 3 minutes.
Seed rotation
This startup wants to alleviate the problem that families don’t have enough analog fun anymore because everyone mostly plays video games. The result is a UX PLAY-based edutainment game for kids and families that combines an app on any screen and a physical box with RFID-tagged chips to play an immersive yet educational game.
Rudder
There are many dating apps in the market, but if you want to find friends, there are not many options available. Rudder wants to change that by offering an app with verified accounts for those who want a friend to drink or hang out with. Rudder’s market focus is currently colleges and universities, and the pilot market in London has been promising.
SicPama
QR code menus have been on the market for a long time, but they have flaws that SicPama is trying to fix. Their platform allows you to see what menu items your friends are interested in and also split the bill or even offer to pay for it all.
Sunny side up
Korea has been known for cosmetics, and pet care can benefit from that. The company offers a service and product that aims to help consumers get direct access to a veterinarian, diagnosis and advice for their pets. In addition, the start-up is marketing, a skin care cream tailored to the skin conditions of pets. Take a photo of your pet’s skin, upload it, and receive a diagnosis and customized cream.
Slushi’s Korean startups participated in their own pitching competition, where judges from international startup media, including The Helsinki Times, evaluated the companies based on innovation, marketability and other criteria. The winners were:
- coconut silage,
- Next Meta
- Aimbelab
HT