Which Startups Receive Advertising Benefits Worth 300 Million Won...

Startups Overcoming 43:1 Competition Rate... The Pirates, Sechawang, Kitten Planet, Homefit Selected

Four teams that won at the 'I Will Be Back 2020 Pitching Day' are taking a commemorative photo. From the left, Team Leader Yu Seong-yeong of The Pirates, Marketer Kim Su-hyeon of Kitten Planet, CEO Park Jeong-ryul of Sechawang, and CEO Eom Seon-jin of Homefit.

As interest in domestic startups is increasing, a startup has emerged that overcame a competition ratio of 43 to 1. Out of about 170 domestic startups competing for advertising benefits worth approximately 300 million KRW, four companies were finally selected. The winners are 'The Pirates', 'Sechawang', 'Kitten Planet', and 'Homefit'.

The Korea Startup Forum (Chairman Kim Bong-jin, hereafter Kospo) announced on the 3rd that four winning teams were selected at the 'I Will Be Back 2020 Pitching Day' co-hosted with Focus Media Korea (CEO Yoon Je-hyun). The event, held on the 31st of last month at the Yeouido Federation of Korean Industries Conference Center, was the final judging session for selecting companies for the startup marketing support project jointly promoted by Kospo and Focus Media Korea, where 10 startup teams took the stage to compete for the final winners on site.

The startups on stage were 10 teams that passed the first screening after applying to the contest held since last December. The teams?The Pirates, Modu Company, Sechawang, Things, Aja School, Enter Crowd, Eat the Company, Kitten Planet, Pet People, and Homefit?presented their services in that order. A Q&A session with the judges was also conducted. The on-site evaluation considered the innovation of the startups' products and services as well as platform suitability. The judging panel consisted of startup industry and branding experts, including Hong Sung-tae, Emeritus Professor at Hanyang University Business School, Park Hee-eun, Partner at Altos Ventures, Lee Hyun-jae, External Cooperation Director at Woowa Brothers, and Lee Byung-heon, Investment Director at Woori PE. As a result of the on-site evaluation, the four selected teams were The Pirates, Sechawang, Kitten Planet, and Homefit, who will receive marketing benefits worth 300 million KRW throughout the year starting from February. A dedicated team of marketing experts will support customized video content planning and production, and the produced content will be broadcast for 12 weeks on 20,000 apartment elevator TVs operated by Focus Media.

The startups selected this time are characterized by providing innovative services in areas closely related to our daily lives, from food to health management. Lifestyle startups offering innovative services and business models that help improve consumers' lives at the point of contact received high evaluations. The Pirates (CEO Yoon Ki-hong) operates the 'Mermaid Pirate Crew' service, which provides seafood market price information nationwide and connects seafood demanders and suppliers. Sechawang (CEO Park Jung-ryul) offers mobility care services centered on on-site car washing to solve inconveniences in car management, including car washing. Kitten Planet (CEO Choi Jong-ho) provides the educational augmented reality (AR) smart toothbrush 'Brush Monster' that helps children develop toothbrushing habits. Homefit (CEO Eom Seon-jin) is an online-to-offline (O2O) service that connects personal health management visiting coaches.

Choi Sung-jin, CEO of Korea Startup Forum, said, "We will start full-scale support activities to enable the four selected teams' innovative businesses and products to conduct effective marketing at the customer interface," adding, "We will continue to expand support that can provide practical benefits for the growth of startups."