14 Selected Startups Investment Presentation
'Startup World Cup' Korea Preliminary Also Held
POSCO announced on the 4th that it held the '2024 POSCO Idea Marketplace (IMP)' event at ChangeUpGround Pohang.
IMP is a startup discovery and nurturing program initiated by POSCO, the first among domestic large corporations, supporting the early discovery and growth of promising startups and discovering future new businesses for the POSCO Group.
At the event, 14 startups selected through general public recruitment and university technology holding company recommendations since the second half of last year participated in an investment attraction briefing session, showcasing innovative ideas and technologies. POSCO invested a total of 5 billion KRW in these companies, and the Seoul Business Agency also provided each company with 10 million KRW in commercialization funds.
Additionally, POSCO plans to provide incubation at ChangeUpGround, an incubating center operated by POSCO, support for commercialization such as product development and market expansion, and stage-by-stage incubation including connections to the POSCO Venture Fund and TIPS.
Meanwhile, following the IMP event, the Korean preliminaries for the 'Startup World Cup' to select Korea's representative startup were also held. The Startup World Cup is one of the world's largest global startup pitching competitions hosted by Pegasus Tech Ventures, a venture capital based in Silicon Valley, USA, with preliminaries held in over 40 regions worldwide, including Korea.
Seven IMP-selected companies, chosen through prior public recruitment and screening, participated in the Korean preliminaries of the Startup World Cup. POSCO plans to support the Korean representative startup selected through the preliminaries with pitching training and overseas stay expenses for the finals.
The startup selected as Korea's representative will participate in the finals held in San Francisco, USA, from the 2nd to the 4th of next month. The ultimate winner will be given an opportunity to secure an investment of 1 million USD.
In addition, various programs were held at the event, including a healing talk concert with Monk Jeonggwan and an exhibition of works reinterpreting Renaissance masterpieces based on startup technologies in collaboration with emerging artificial intelligence (AI) artists.
Kim Kisu, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of POSCO Holdings, said, "We will discover and support startups aspiring to become global unicorn companies and create a system to grow together by collaborating with excellent startups in new business areas of the POSCO Group. The creative ideas and innovative technologies of startups will play an important role not only in the sustainable growth of the group but also in contributing to youth job creation and balanced regional development."
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