FuturePlay "Recruiting Startups for 'HL Tech Up Plus Season 6'"

"Confirmed Investment of 150 Million KRW Immediately Upon Selection"

FuturePlay announced on the 8th that it is recruiting startups to participate in 'HL TechUp Plus Season 6' together with HL Group.

'TechUp Plus' is a program through which FuturePlay and HL Mando have discovered startups in promising future fields over the past five years. During five seasons, they have discovered·invested in 15 startups and produced excellent startups such as Newbility, Navipra, and DeepInsight.

‘TechUp Plus’ is expanded and reorganized into a program involving the entire HL Group, including HL Mando, for its sixth season. In addition to HL Mando, HL Holdings and HL D&I Hanla are participating, expanding the supported business areas beyond mobility and robotics to include ▲mobility services ▲artificial intelligence (AI) ▲logistics ▲construction ▲drones ▲ESG (environment, social, governance) sectors.

The biggest change is that investment is made immediately after a startup is selected. Through a 'pre-investment post-acceleration' approach, investment from FuturePlay and HL Group is confirmed simultaneously with selection, with amounts expected to range from 150 million to 350 million KRW. The program plans to focus on recruiting promising technology startups from seed to pre-Series A stages. This is a strategy introduced for the first time among corporate open innovation programs.

Selected startups will receive not only investment funds but also 15 million KRW in commercialization support funds, professional acceleration from FuturePlay, and opportunities to review commercialization linkage with HL Group’s operational departments. After the five-month FuturePlay acceleration program ends, commercialization levels will be evaluated for potential additional investment. Since FuturePlay specializes in discovering and nurturing deep tech startups, partners and experts in various fields will provide growth guidance at necessary points such as diagnosing the status of selected startups, establishing business models, research and development (R&D), marketing, and human resources (HR).

Ryu Jung-hee, CEO of FuturePlay, said, “The industrial environment when we first conducted TechUp Plus with Mando and the current environment six years later have changed at an unimaginable speed. We are pleased to work with HL Group to find startups in a broader range in response to this rapidly changing environment,” adding, “We hope many prospective and early-stage entrepreneurs who will change the future by following the excellent startups produced in previous seasons will show great interest.”

Startups wishing to participate in the program can apply on the official website by the 30th. FuturePlay will hold a public briefing session for prospective and early-stage entrepreneurs on the 18th for 'HL TechUp Plus Season 6.' The event will also be broadcast live on the FuturePlay YouTube channel.