Naver Launches Initiative to Discover AI Startups to Grow Small Business Ecosystem Together

Naver is launching an initiative to discover AI startups that will collaborate with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

On the 21st, Naver announced that it will hold the ‘AI RIDE HyperCLOVA X’ contest with Naver Cloud to recruit startups to join the SME support campaign ‘Project Kkot’.

Through this contest, Naver aims to identify AI solutions and startups that can contribute to the growth of SMEs and creators. Participating startups will plan AI solutions that utilize Naver’s ultra-large-scale AI HyperCLOVA X, enabling online and offline sellers and content creators to use them in actual business or creative processes, effectively addressing various challenges and difficulties. Startups that have already developed and operate AI solutions are also eligible to participate.

To enhance technology accessibility for diverse partners, Naver launched the ‘AI RIDE’ program under Project Kkot last month. As part of ‘AI RIDE,’ the ‘Commerce Solution AI RIDE’ campaign is underway, allowing SMEs to experience solutions within the Commerce Solution Market for free to increase their technological understanding. Through the ‘AI RIDE HyperCLOVA X’ contest, Naver plans to expand the lineup of AI solutions that SMEs and creators can use effectively in business settings, together with startups.

In the selection process, Naver will comprehensively evaluate service competitiveness that addresses SME ecosystem understanding and SME needs, generative AI trends and technological capabilities, growth potential, and unique business models. Recruitment will continue until January 31 of next year, and a total of five teams will be selected through document and presentation reviews. Subsequently, over eight months, the teams will collaborate with Team Naver from service planning to enhancement and launch.

Selected companies in the contest will receive various benefits, including ▲support for infrastructure costs necessary for service construction ▲technical support for HyperCLOVA X utilization guidance and infrastructure optimization ▲business growth support such as conferences and joint campaigns. Additionally, through ‘CLOVA Studio,’ startups will be supported to easily build generative AI custom models specialized in required fields by combining their own datasets. Since October, Naver Cloud has started providing the HyperCLOVA X model through ‘CLOVA Studio.’

Naver expects that the ‘AI RIDE HyperCLOVA X’ contest will expand a technological ecosystem where startups and Naver’s various partners can grow together. Startups will not only improve their business acumen and technical capabilities through collaboration with Team Naver but also secure touchpoints with SMEs and creators active on Naver, creating business opportunities. It is anticipated that SMEs and content creators, who have faced practical constraints such as time, cost, and manpower in directly applying technology, will have access to various AI solutions and an environment where they can easily utilize them in business settings.

Shin Ji-man, leader of the Naver Project Kkot Secretariat, said, “As the collaboration base between Team Naver and startups expands through Project Kkot, we expect to support the concerns and problems faced by SMEs with more diverse technologies and methods.” He added, “We will support the connection of startups’ differentiated ideas and technologies to actual service launches and their use in the growth of SMEs and creators.”