[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyo-jin] Shinhan Financial Group announced on the 28th that it selected 19 companies for the 6-2nd batch of Shinhan Future’s Lab, the first startup accelerator program in the domestic financial sector, on the 24th and has begun full-scale nurturing.
Shinhan Future’s Lab expanded its startup selection from once a year to twice a year starting this year. In the first half of the year, a total of 36 companies were selected and nurtured, and this time, 19 startups were selected to support their growth into unicorn companies.
About 1,000 startups applied for the Shinhan Future’s Lab 6-2nd batch recruitment, recording a competition rate of 60 to 1. Among them, 16 companies were selected for collaboration with Shinhan Financial Group, 2 companies were jointly selected through the Fintech Cube program with the Fintech Support Center, and 1 company was selected through the SK Impact Unicorn program.
These include 'Bogoplay,' a commerce platform where anyone can become a show host and sell products; 'iPixel,' an AI home training service platform; 'BitSensing,' a developer of ultra-small contactless monitoring sensors for smart healthcare; 'Platformers' of Clean Veterans, a homecare platform connecting housekeeping helpers; and 'OneSoftDime,' a portable biometric measurement device and lifestyle health management platform.
They will receive more segmented support through the newly applied 'S Membership' starting in the second half of the year.
S Membership is a newly introduced program to expand the startup ecosystem and systematically nurture and discover unicorn companies. Reflecting the diverse demands of startups recently, it is a membership system that supports nurturing in three areas: ▲LEAD (investment) ▲BUILD (growth/nurturing) ▲CONNECT (corporate and government institution partners).
In June, Shinhan Financial achieved results with SenseTone, MobileTong, VisualCamp, and Copin Communications being finally selected through various supports such as document preparation, company presentations, mentoring, and consulting for Future’s Lab nurturing companies via S Membership in the 'K-Unicorn Discovery Project' hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.
In particular, SenseTone, which achieved the highest score in the selection process, is a company producing one-time authentication code generation and verification modules used for user authentication codes and payment numbers. It was selected as a company specialized in entering Indonesia and is being nurtured as a global Future’s Lab.
Meanwhile, Shinhan Financial is recruiting companies for the 'Innovation Growth Platform Incheon 1st Membership' at the Incheon Songdo Startup Park together with its corporate partner Celltrion. Target companies are bio and healthcare startups and startups wishing to enter the global market, and recruitment will begin on August 10 through the 'InnoTalk (www.innotalk.co.kr)' site.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
