LG Uplus to Showcase 10 Korean AI Startups at MWC26... "Building Cooperation Models"

"Supporting Global Expansion of Promising Startups"
Startup Participation in MWC26 Side Event "4YFN"

LG Uplus will introduce 10 Korean AI startups with technological competitiveness to the world at MWC26 in Barcelona, Spain, next month. (From left) Ha Kevin, CEO of CipherData; Lee Seunghyun, CEO of Inhance; Jang Inseon, CEO of FairyTech; Park Haeon, CTO of Aim Intelligence; Lee Jaeho, CEO of OptAI.

LG Uplus announced on February 18 that it will introduce 10 Korean artificial intelligence (AI) startups with strong technological competitiveness at "MWC26," which will be held next month in Barcelona, Spain.

The 10 AI startups supported by LG Uplus will participate in "4YFN (4 Years From Now)," a side event of MWC. 4YFN is an event held in Hall 8 of Fira Gran Via, the venue of MWC, that discovers about 1,000 startups expected to grow into companies capable of setting up booths at the main MWC event four years later, and supports networking and entrepreneurship.

The 10 companies plan to hold meetings with global corporations and investment firms on-site at MWC26 and discuss possibilities for technological collaboration and business partnerships. LG Uplus will cover on-site participation costs for the 10 companies, including airfare, accommodation, and booth rental fees.

The 10 startups participating in 4YFN this time are Aim Intelligence, Inhance, OptAI, CipherData, FairyTech, ICTK, FortyTwoMaru, IHFB, Turing, and Grovy. Among them, five companies have been collaborating with LG Uplus through its AI open innovation program "Shift."

LG Uplus operates "Shift," through which it selects promising AI startups every year and supports them with technology and business collaboration, investment, and the establishment of cooperative relationships. The five startups participating in 4YFN this year have been collaborating with LG Uplus since last year through Shift in the areas of security, EXIO, and small and medium-sized language models (sLLM).

Among the five companies currently participating in Shift, three of them - Aim Intelligence, Inhance, and OptAI - have been named as final candidates in the "4YFN Awards TOP 20," which selects the best startups among those participating in 4YFN.

The 4YFN Awards select the top 20 companies with outstanding performance in five categories among the 4YFN participants: Digital Horizon (DX), healthtech, climate tech, fintech, and mobile frontier. During MWC, the event announces the five best companies and one winning company. This year’s TOP 20 final candidates include six companies from Spain, the host country, three from the United Kingdom, and three from Korea.

LG Uplus plans to use this support for participation in the 4YFN program at MWC26 as a stepping stone to continuously expand assistance for the global expansion of startups connected to the Shift program. Kim Sungmook, Executive Director at LG Uplus, said, "It is meaningful that we are able to introduce Korean AI startups on the global stage and create touchpoints that can lead to business opportunities," adding, "We will continue to build cooperative models that enable us to grow together with promising startups."