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[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is partnering with the German global company Mercedes-Benz to select five domestic startups possessing innovative mobility technologies such as autonomous driving and indoor navigation, jointly advancing their overseas expansion.
Seoul held the 'Expo Day' on the 10th to announce the commercialization achievements of the 'Startup Autobahn Korea' platform, launched this year in collaboration with the German Daimler Group to discover and nurture startups. The event was broadcast live online via the Startup Autobahn YouTube channel.
Startup Autobahn is a global open innovation platform established by the Daimler Group in 2016 to address various needs related to Daimler mobility through startups' innovative technologies and services. Since its launch in Germany, it has been held in the United States, China, India, and other countries, discovering over 5,500 startups in total, with Korea being the seventh country to start the program worldwide.
Startup Autobahn Korea has been operating since last year based on a cooperative system for discovering and nurturing startups established between Seoul Startup Hub and Mercedes-Benz Korea.
At the Expo Day, five companies presented their commercialization achievements from July to August this year in collaboration with Mercedes-Benz: Seoul Robotics (CEO Hanbin Lee), which developed autonomous driving software algorithms using LiDAR sensors; Vestella Lab (CEO Sangsoo Jung), which developed digital map-based indoor navigation through a V2X smart parking system; Thirteen Floor (CEO Jungwoo Park), which developed an event platform for non-face-to-face online education and conferences based on XR technology; Coconut Silo (CEO Seungyong Kim), which spun off from Hyundai Motor Group as an in-house venture and provides night maintenance and replacement services using a truck-exclusive platform; and Happy Technology (CEO Jonathan Lee), which developed a premium car wash service app and platform.
The city plans to continue providing follow-up support to the selected companies through Seoul Startup Hub so that the five innovative technology startups can pursue commercialization technology development and global expansion through close cooperation with Daimler headquarters in Germany even after Expo Day.
Daimler headquarters will support the incubation and technology development of the finally selected startups in Germany. If it is judged that the mobility solution technologies of these startups can be integrated with Daimler vehicles, joint ventures or mergers and acquisitions (M&A) may be possible after going through a 'Technology Collaboration Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)' stage.
At the Expo Day, Sajjad Khan, a member of the Mercedes-Benz AG Board of Management and head of CASE, communicated with the five startups via video, and Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, visited the site to encourage the startups participating in Startup Autobahn Korea.
Kim Ui-seung, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Economic Policy Office, said, "Even amid the COVID-19 situation, we will support the growth of startups by building networks with global and large companies so that our startups’ innovative services and technologies can create new industries and capture overseas markets."
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