14 Outstanding Startups Selected for 5G Specialized Services
Support Provided for 6 Months Until February Next Year
SK Telecom announced on the 23rd that it has launched the 'True Innovation' program to support the growth of outstanding startups in the 5G specialized service sector. The photo shows 14 startup companies participating in the orientation held at True Innovation Euljiro Lab. Photo by SK Telecom
[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] SK Telecom announced on the 23rd that it has selected 14 outstanding startups in the 5G specialized service fields such as artificial intelligence (AI)·extended virtual worlds (metaverse)·Internet of Things (IoT)·cloud·smart factory, and will support them for six months until February next year.
This is conducted through SKT's 'True Innovation' program. The program, which started in 2013, aims to provide startups with a growth platform through collaboration while discovering new growth engines by utilizing startups' creative ideas and technologies.
Among 272 startups that applied to participate in this program, SKT finally selected 14 companies including SqueezeBeats, a developer of AI lightweight and acceleration solutions. The competition rate was 19.4 to 1.
The selected startups will receive support such as ▲ mentoring and investment review from SKT and venture capital ▲ business cooperation opportunities with SKT ▲ office space and technical/service support ▲ participation in demo days and investor relations (IR) events ▲ participation in exhibitions throughout the process from technology research to commercialization.
SKT operates this True Innovation program in connection with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' 'Large-Startup (Large Corporation-Startup) Solver Platform.' The Large-Startup Solver Platform is a win-win cooperation program where startups solve challenges presented by large corporations and public institutions.
Through this program, startups conducting business cooperation projects with SKT are expected to receive up to 100 million KRW in commercialization funds and up to 300 million KRW in research and development expenses over two years from the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development.
Since 2013, SKT has supported a total of 368 startups over 10 years. Among them, promising startups such as Bucketplace, a unicorn company operating the lifestyle platform 'Ohouse,' medical device manufacturer 'Plazmap,' food tech company 'Jeongyookgak,' AI-based gaze tracking technology developer 'VisualCamp,' and image radar solution developer 'BitSensing' have emerged.
Since last year, SKT has formed the 'ESG Korea Alliance' with 21 companies and schools to help the growth of startups in the ESG (environment, social, governance) field and operates the startup acceleration program 'ESG Korea.'
Startups are also supported through a 20 billion KRW ESG fund established last year with Kakao and a 40 billion KRW ESG fund established in March this year with KT, LG Uplus, and fund management company KB Investment, each contributing 10 billion KRW.
Ye Ji-young, head of SK Telecom's ESG Alliance, said, "The True Innovation program has contributed to creating open win-win cooperation results between large corporations and startups," adding, "We will strive to help the domestic startup ecosystem grow further through practical support necessary for startups."
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