Gwangyang Steelworks, Promising Venture Company 'BuildUp Camp' Takes First Step

10 Promising Early-Stage Companies Participating in Jeonnam Region

POSCO Gwangyang Steelworks (Director Lee Dong-ryeol) held the kickoff event for the ‘2024 Gwangyang Venture Valley Build-up Camp’ on the 11th and 12th at the Gwangyang Rakhee Hotel. The event aims to discover promising companies in the Jeonnam region and intensively nurture them as key regional venture companies.

The ‘Build-up Camp’ was conducted for early-stage entrepreneurs and prospective entrepreneurs with less than six years since founding their companies headquartered in the Jeonnam region, who have no prior investment history. Its purpose is to provide these companies with opportunities to enhance their business models, increase their attractiveness for future investment, and establish a foundation for sustainable growth.

On the 12th, attendees are taking a commemorative photo at the kickoff event of the '2024 Gwangyang Venture Valley Build-up Camp' held at the Gwangyang Rakhee Hotel.
Photo by Gwangyang Steelworks

Previously, 10 prospective entrepreneurs and early-stage startups from the Jeonnam region, who passed multifaceted evaluation criteria including ▲ concreteness of business plan ▲ founder’s capabilities ▲ team members’ expertise ▲ uniqueness of ideas ▲ market entry potential, were selected to participate in this Build-up Camp.

These companies, selected from diverse fields such as secondary battery materials, IT services, and agricultural food products, will receive regular online and offline mentoring from a panel of experts from venture investment institutions until November. They will undergo a nurturing process to concretize their business ideas.

In particular, after the Build-up Camp process concludes, a separate performance sharing session will be held, including an IR presentation meeting among participating companies to share achievements and explore effective measures for investment attraction.

During the two-day kickoff event of the ‘Build-up Camp,’ participating companies had networking time with experts and formed team-specific mentor groups.

The mentor groups conducted a preliminary preparation process to diagnose the business models of matched companies, analyze their strengths, and reflect these insights in the upcoming mentoring process.

Ko Gwan-bong, Head of POSCO Shared Growth Group, said, “Although these venture companies have not yet been recognized in the market, this program is essential for the creation of Gwangyang Venture Valley as it discovers high-potential ventures and helps them grow into excellent companies through short-term intensive build-up, including investment attraction, prototype development, and market expansion.” He added, “We will fully support these companies so that they have the opportunity to ‘build up’ into small, strong, and excellent venture companies.”