Cradle of Women-Led Startups... 26th Women’s Startup Competition Awards Ceremony

Grand Prize Winner: Jung Sojin, CEO of BeyondDx

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on July 4 that it held the awards ceremony for the 26th Women’s Startup Competition.

Yonhap News

The Women’s Startup Competition is the only domestic contest for female (prospective) entrepreneurs, aiming to discover women-led startups with outstanding ideas and business items and to promote women’s technology startups. This year’s awards ceremony was held at the Nine Tree Premier Rokauss Hotel in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

A total of 1,131 teams participated in this year’s competition, and 40 teams were selected as winners. Awards included the Minister of SMEs and Startups Award for 6 teams (1 Grand Prize, 2 Excellence Prizes, and 3 Merit Prizes), the IBK Industrial Bank of Korea President’s Award for 2 teams, the Shinhan Bank Group President’s Award for 2 teams (4 Encouragement Prizes in total), and the Korea Women Entrepreneurs Association President’s Award for 30 teams (30 Honorable Mentions). In line with the competition’s goal of promoting technology startups, 79.5% of the participants were women (prospective) entrepreneurs in technology startup fields such as bio-health and education services.

The Grand Prize (prize money of 20 million won) was awarded to Jung Sojin, CEO of BeyondDx, who developed a lung cancer diagnostic technology based on a combination algorithm using blood multi-markers. The Excellence Prizes were awarded to Cho Minkyung, CEO of SingingBeetle, who developed a high-efficiency K-POP global idol training platform, and to Lim Heejin (prospective entrepreneur), who developed a global AI generative content marketplace.

The Merit Prizes went to Yoon Euijin, CEO of EJ M Company, who developed an AI-based redevelopment and reconstruction association operation management (DX) SaaS system; Shin Jungeun, CEO of Boinosis, who developed an AI healthcare service for dementia prevention; and Choi Choyoung (prospective entrepreneur), who developed an AI-based automated solution for reviewing medical device performance reports and preparing regulatory approval documents.

Winners of the competition will receive not only prizes but also follow-up support programs such as commercialization assistance and investment linkage. In addition, the top 26 teams among the winners will be given the right to participate in the integrated finals of the Challenge! K-Startup, scheduled for September this year.

Vice Minister Kim Seongseob stated, "Now in its 26th year, the Women’s Startup Competition has become a cradle for discovering and nurturing technology-based women-led startups. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will actively support women entrepreneurs so that they can further grow and thrive by implementing customized policies for each stage, from startup to scale-up and global expansion."