This Year's Best Foreign Startup Team is 'Polymerize'

'2024 K-Startup Grand Challenge' Demo Day

Polymerize took first place in the competition selecting the best foreign startup team, with participation from 114 countries this year.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 11th that it held the '2024 K-Startup Grand Challenge' Demo Day at COEX in Seoul and selected the top 5 teams. The K-Startup Grand Challenge, which began in 2016, is a program that supports the establishment of domestic corporations and settlement in Korea by outstanding overseas startups. This year, 1,716 teams from 114 countries participated.

After document screening and presentation evaluations, 40 teams were selected. They entered Korea from September and prepared for this Demo Day through about three and a half months of acceleration by domestic startup planners.

At the Demo Day, the top 8 teams, selected through commercialization achievement evaluations and preliminary rounds by startup planners, presented their startup items and business plans, and the top 5 teams to receive a total prize of $400,000 were finally selected.

Kim Seong-seop, Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, is taking a commemorative photo with the awardees at the '2024 K-Startup Grand Challenge' Demo Day held on the 11th at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups

The first place was awarded to Polymerize, a cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) materials informatics software company. Second place went to Nanodropper from the United States, a company that produces micro-volume control adapters compatible with all eye drop cases. Third place was Open Energy from Portugal, which developed electric vehicle battery replacement solutions and energy storage systems for logistics and mobility service vehicles. Fourth place was Gimme Sabor from Spain, and fifth place was Murple from China. Gimme Sabor produces plant-based protein products and seasonings that replicate the flavors of meat, seafood, and cheese, while Murple offers an AI-based integrated document editing platform that helps researchers write papers about five times faster.

The top 20 teams, including the 5 teams announced that day, will receive follow-up support such as commercialization funding and additional incubation for three months. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to help the Korean startup ecosystem settle and grow through this.

Kim Seong-seop, Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, “Challenging and innovative startups are the main players who will change the future of Korea and the world,” adding, “We will continue to support and cheer on the innovation and growth of our startups.”