Startups shine COMEUP2023 pitching contest

Concluding the COMEUP2023 global startup festival held from Nov. 8-10, the Korea Startup Forum, the event’s organizer, announced the final winners of the startup pitching competition COMEUP Stars on Friday. Intekmedi, a developer of in-vitro diagnostic solutions, received the Best of Stars award, the top prize of the pitching contest. The Korean startup specializes in producing in-vitro diagnostic kits tailored for individual users.

Throughout the three-day COMEUP2023 conference, 40 startups presented their pitches on stage, with two startups being matched up to compete. After the fierce pitching battles, 10 finalists were selected--Lansik, Market of Material, Star Pickers, Stemden, Agmo, allmytour, Intekmedi, Floyd, Hopae, and Homecheck. These startups were granted discounted access to office space at the shared office run by Dream Plus as a benefit while the top winner, Intekmedi, additionally received the latest version of Apple's iPad.

Special awards were also granted to some other participants, including HMA Square, a firm specializing in non-invasive continuous glucose monitoring systems.

“The conference has evolved into a growth platform for startups, offering opportunities to network with global investors and partners and facilitating the making of deals,” said Sungjin Choi, the CEO of Korea Startup Forum, at the award ceremony.

5-Month Journey of COMEUP Stars

From May 1 to June 2, the Korea Startup Forum received applications from 960 companies across 53 countries for COMEUP Stars.

The applicants represented diverse business sectors: 130 companies were from software, 91 from health and biotechnology, 66 from lifestyle, and 52 from commerce and shopping. Media, entertainment, energy, and education companies also participated.

Of all the applicants, 22.6% were from global markets, up 9.4% from the previous year. Breaking it down, 48 companies were based in the United States, 16 in India, 13 in Singapore, and 12 in the United Kingdom. Other represented countries include Brazil, Germany, Spain, Turkey, and Nigeria.

Teams from 71 universities in 11 global regions, including Seoul National University, Yonsei University, MIT, Imperial College London, and the National University of Singapore, also joined the competition.

In July, the organizer selected 130 companies and categorized them into different groups: 100 for the Rookie League and 30 for the Academy League. Only startups in the Rookie League competed in the pitching competition, while applicants in other groups had the opportunity to deliver presentations to investors and network.

Startups entitled to compete in the Rookie League were those that had received cumulative funding of 1 billion won or less, while the 30 applicants designated for the Academy League were aspiring entrepreneurs and startups established within 6 months or less.

Additionally, startups that had already received funding ranging from 5 to 50 billion won ($3.8 million to $38 million) were invited to participate in the Rocket League to share their insights and business models with startups and investors during the conference.

During the preliminary rounds, 13 accelerators, including Digital Healthcare Partners, Mashup Angels, Bluepoint Partners, and Bigbang Angels, partnered with the Rookie League startups for mentoring programs, supporting the applicants in their journey to the next rounds. Notably, Softbank Ventures and IMM Investment demonstrated outstanding mentoring capabilities, with seven of their mentees each securing a place in the primary rounds.

Since then, the COMEUP Stars applicants went through a series of document and presentation processes, with only 40 companies from the Rookie League making it to the primary rounds, held throughout the COMEUP2023 event.

A total of 28 Korean startups made the primary, including OS (plasma semiconductor equipment manufacturing startup), METLiT (magnetic resonance spectroscopy AI analysis and diagnosis solution), allmytour (travel platform), and Samsin (frozen egg concierge service).

Among the 12 international startups that successfully advanced to the primary rounds were HydroArt, a home-grown food cultivation solutions firm based in the United Arab Emirates; Filmplace, a Singaporean platform for renting and booking filming spaces; TactileAI, a B2B consumer data analytics platform serving the beauty industry in the United States; and Narval, a Mexican company specializing in generative AI-based antibody therapeutics development solutions.