Gwangju City Supports AI Startup's Entry into the 'US Silicon Valley'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Kang Gi-jung) is actively supporting AI startup companies to expand overseas based on good items and excellent technology, and further grow into unicorn companies.

The city announced on the 12th that it will assist AI startups in entering Silicon Valley in the United States.

The ‘CES 2023’ Gwangju delegation held a global venture capital (VC) networking meeting with Namho, co-CEO of Altos Ventures, and global investment firms at WeWork in Silicon Valley on the 10th (local time) to expand investment support for Gwangju AI startups.

Hosted by the AI Industry Convergence Project Group, the meeting was organized to understand global investment trends, create an investment environment for AI startups in Silicon Valley, establish a global venture capital network, and explore collaboration methods.

Through this, they plan to conduct networking and collaboration programs between startups and global venture capitalists to help Gwangju AI startups leap into global companies, and actively support globalization strategies and overseas expansion.

It is expected that this Silicon Valley visit will promote the AI-centered industrial convergence complex project, strengthen global networking, accelerate the global market entry of Gwangju AI startups, and expand corporate investment.

Altos Ventures, founded in 1996, is a Silicon Valley-based Korean venture capital firm that has invested in 70 Korean startups including Coupang, Woowa Brothers, Danggeun Market, and Zigbang.

Additionally, from 2018 to 2022, for five consecutive years, it was selected as the number one preferred venture capital by founders in the Startup Trend Report, which provides an overview of the entire startup industry, conducted by Startup Alliance and Open Survey.

Earlier, on the 8th, the AI Industry Convergence Project Group held a ‘Global AI Expert Network Meeting’ with four Silicon Valley AI experts actively working in Silicon Valley, including Park Gi-sang, CEO of CEEYA, which provides personal business website creation services using AI.

At the meeting, they listened to the current status and difficulties of Silicon Valley to benchmark the startup ecosystem and discussed the role and support measures of local governments for the overseas expansion and settlement of domestic AI startups.

In addition, the AI Industry Convergence Project Group participated in the ‘CES 2023’ event and provided multifaceted support for the overseas expansion of IndieJay Co., Ltd., a startup that showcased an AI music recommendation service at the Gwangju promotional booth.

IndieJay, which received the ‘CES 2023’ Innovation Award from the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) in the United States, received great acclaim from AI stakeholders and visitors worldwide by introducing the mobile application service ‘IndieJay Play,’ which plays various songs tailored to user situations and emotions.

This is the first time that a situation- and emotion-aware AI app service has received an innovation award at CES.

Lim Cha-sik, head of the AI Industry Convergence Project Group, said, “This network meeting served as an opportunity to inform global AI experts and investors in Silicon Valley about the AI convergence complex project and to expand global entry and investment for Gwangju AI companies.” He added, “Through the AI expert network, we will actively support Gwangju AI startups to expand overseas based on good items and excellent technology and further grow into unicorn companies.”