Jihoon Kim, CEO of the mental healthcare startup DolbomDream, which develops an air-inflatable vest that provides psychological stability with a hugging sensation, has been selected as one of the 30 Under 30 Asian leaders under the age of 30.
On the 18th, Forbes announced the 'Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia' list on its official website. CEO Jihoon Kim was selected in the Social Impact category, marking the first time in four years since 2019 that a Korean has been chosen in this field.
Since 2011, Forbes has annually selected 30 leaders under the age of 30 in 10 fields including arts, marketing, finance, social impact, and healthcare from 22 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
This year, football player Jo Gyu-seong, short track queen Choi Min-jung, girl groups NewJeans and LE SSERAFIM, actors Jung Ji-so and Kim Hye-yoon, and Lee Yu-mi were also named among the 30 Under 30 leaders.
Born in 1995, CEO Jihoon Kim graduated from KAIST with a degree in Technology Management and a master's in entrepreneurship. He began his startup journey by winning first place at the E*5 KAIST campus startup competition in 2019 and has developed an AI-based smart vest. In 2022, he also received the CES Innovation Award. DolbomDream recently received office support from Kakao, was selected for Samsung Electronics' startup support program C-Lab Outside, and was chosen for Google for Startup's Cloud Academy, collaborating with and receiving support from various large corporations.
Last year, DolbomDream won the grand prize at the K-Digital Grand Championship, a private joint championship where 13 government digital competition winners hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and 12 private competition winners competed to select the strongest team. Recently, the startup has attracted investments from SK Happiness Foundation, Lotte Ventures, and Singaporean VC Quest Ventures, gaining attention as a rising startup that creates both social and economic value.
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