SK Inno Environmental Startup Program 'Egg 2nd Cohort' Launch Ceremony

Selection of 15 Low-Carbon and Eco-Friendly Startups... Support for One Year
Manager Kwon Young-soo: "Discovering Over 100 Companies by 2025"

Environmental startup CEOs and officials attending the launch ceremony of the second phase of 'Egg' taking a commemorative photo. (Photo by SK Innovation)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] SK Innovation announced on the 26th that it held the launch ceremony for the 2nd cohort of 'Egg,' an environmental startup promotion program. Following the ceremony held the previous day, 15 environmental startups were selected to receive support for one year.

'Egg' signifies the collaboration between 'SK' Innovation and 'Green' ventures. It is part of the second year of the 'Startup Leap Package Large Corporation Collaboration Program,' conducted in partnership with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development. SK Innovation plans to discover low-carbon and eco-friendly collaboration models with the 15 selected companies over approximately one year. They will also provide growth support programs such as investment attraction consulting, technical advisory, and social impact measurement. The goal is to accelerate startup growth and induce the creation of diverse environmental values.

SK Innovation explained that the 15 companies were selected based on their business viability in low-carbon and eco-friendly fields, innovativeness, social impact creation, and potential for collaboration with SK Innovation affiliates. Each company will receive up to 300 million KRW in commercialization support funds from the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development. The technologies held by the selected startups such as 'SixtyHertz,' 'Innoverse,' 'P&AI,' and 'DoWiseChem' have high relevance to SK Innovation affiliates' eco-friendly businesses. These startups possess technologies including eco-friendly energy generation forecasting, IoT-based waste plastic recycling, mobile chargers for electric vehicle batteries, and eco-friendly cellulose nanofiber material technology.

SK Innovation also reported that business model advancement and investment reviews are ongoing for the 20 environmental startups selected in the first cohort of Egg last year. So far, active business cooperation has been progressing between five SK Innovation affiliates and six environmental startups. Seven startups have also succeeded in attracting external investment.

Kwon Youngsoo, SK Innovation’s ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) Promotion Officer, stated, "Nurturing eco-friendly startups and strengthening partnerships is one of the core tasks of the company’s ESG promotion strategy. We have established partnerships with over 40 startups so far and plan to nurture more than 100 startups by 2025 to contribute to carbon reduction and social value creation."