With today’s global business challenges amplified by the COVID-19 situation, the global tech ecosystem is grappling at ways to address these challenges and move forward as a resilient community. The special SFF x SWITCH edition this year will celebrate the defiant people who are creating new opportunities to stand together and advance our society by showcasing today’s role models who persevere through the tides, as well as rising stars and pioneers transforming global industries.
Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) is known for spearheading challenging topics and sparking important conversation in the financial services industry — from financial inclusion to sustainability. Meanwhile, the Singapore Week of Innovation and TeCHnology (SWITCH) is focused primarily on championing the exchange of ideas in the innovation space.
Coming together in SFF x SWITCH, the joint project is a celebration of people and ideas working towards the common goal of addressing today’s challenges.
As such, in the interest of building a stronger, more resilient future, the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development (KISED) in partnership with SparkLabs is fielding 15 startups into this year’s SFF x SWITCH. These startups were carefully chosen after a rigorous selection process that included application review and in-person interviews, conducted as a part of 2020 Global Pitching Competition Programme that aims to help Korean startups showcase their businesses to international investors and potential business partners in some of the biggest tech events in the world.
Also read: Building your investor network? Here is the first part of our active investors list in SEA
The 15 Koreans startups who will be participating SFF x SWITCH’s various events cover a range of diverse verticals including Food&AgriTech, Urban Solutions, Customer Services, Healthtech, and so much more. Not only do these startups offer promising business models and innovative products and services, they also show a keen interest in penetrating global markets and expanding to various other regions in the world.
“Korean startups have the DNA to enter the global market and we believe that through participating in these competitions, it will be an important first step towards global expansion,” share Eugene Kim, General Partner of SparkLabs.
Meanwhile, Edward Lee, Director of KISED, explained that “through participating in this event, teams who have advanced to the final rounds and even those that have not, will be able to gain a lot of valuable experience and be more prepared to venture into these countries’ markets in which these competitions take place.”
KISED creates a startup-friendly environment in a bid to globalise domestic startups and support global startups to enter the Korean market based on 10 years of global expansion experience and know-how and the best and greatest network.
15 participating startups
Qualifying in the 2020 Global Pitching Competition Programme and joining in this year’s SFF x SWITCH are 15 of South Korea’s top early-stage startups. They are the following companies listed below:
N.thing – an automated modular vertical farming solution to feed the world sustainably.
Marvrus – online test cheating prevention solution.
Visualcamp – eye-tracking technology for eye gaze input and data analysis.
Ssenstone – password-less user authentication to prevent privacy information leakage and provide safe and convenient user login process.
Smart Diagnosis, Inc. – automatic vital sign extraction and big data service only using smartphone and without the need for wearables.
Gene on biotech – easy, fast, and accurate COVID-19 diagnostic kit with naked eye.
Timo Inc. – the company develops children’s life skills and supports healthy family relationships.
Also read: Sustainability: the new business reality
MOIN, Inc. – cross-border remittance service based on blockchain.
Tenqube – a mobile app for gens M to Z to explore global fashion items.
Lives’talk – Lives’talk creates affordable and accessible solutions for the nomadic pastoralists.
Wonderbros – Wonderbros’ Smart Grab&Go connects people and brands by innovating offline retail experiences.
KEMEDI – a chat-based one on one expert-driven care advice service as family caregiver.
Marine Innovation – eco-friendly products from algae to be used as alternatives to plastic and wood.
Reziena – an AI-based home doctor platform with highly-effective Beaty IoT Homecare Solution using medical technology
GENE ONE ON ONE – a personalised lifestyle (nutrition, exercise, sleep, and stress management) managing coaching service platform for human microbiome recovery
Entering the Southeast Asia market
What makes this opportunity fantastic for these early-stage startups is how the companies themselves have been able to scrutinize and understand how to position their businesses in the Southeast Asian market. They have also identified which particular gaps their solutions will be able to bridge, and are keen on being exposed to stakeholders and other entrepreneurs from the region.
For example, N.thing’s automated modular vertical farming solution is particularly beneficial to the region as it eyes the production of 30% of its nutritional needs by 2030. Singapore’s agricultural land is now less than 1% of overall land use. The challenge there is that the country’s global population density ranking is at number 3, making it more difficult to feed Singapore without using more land and while cutting back on emissions.
N.thing developed the world’s first modular farm concept that offers both productivity and sustainability. It consumes only 4% water of the traditional farming method while increasing the yield tens of times. N.thing’s farm can localise operation processes and distribution services for crop production in areas where it is needed.
On the other hand, within the Edutech market of 500 trillion, there are many opportunities, especially in Southeast Asia, with Singapore being known for its powerful education system as recognised in the region, making it an effective regional test bed. Marvus plans to proceed with Singapore as a base for establishing a corporation and IPO in the future.
Also read: Why Southeast Asia desperately needs innovation in HR and how one accelerator is facilitating it
Marvus’ language content provided within its virtual education platform is in high demand in the Southeast Asian market, coupled with advantages in content, price competitiveness, similar education systems, and customer preferences that are more fit for Southeast Asian region than British/American solutions.
Currently, due to COVID-19, VisualCamp is providing a solution that identifies students’ learning attitudes and concentration levels to domestic education companies. Southeast Asia has the same market needs because of its high emphasis on education. In addition, VisualCamp has established a research/development partnership with a shopping mall company that sells K-Pop products to create an e-commerce platform with applied eye tracking. As the K-Pop market in Southeast Asia is huge, they believe it is an important test bed to verify the marketability of new solutions.
Southeast Asian countries rank high in the IT software outsourcing country rankings. The IT distribution rate is also increasing steeply. VisualCamp’s artificial intelligence eye tracking SeeSo SDK does not require separate hardware and supports iOS and Android, so it has an advantage when it comes to technical application and collaboration.
Lastly, Gene on biotech intends to enter the market for the simple reason that they want to help as many people as possible. Their service will be distributed at a low price so that accurate results can be inspected in a short period of time, and testing experiments can be conducted with inexpensive general equipment, allowing for it to become commercialised and administered for home use.
These are only some of the solutions and innovations South Korea’s top early-stage startups may offer to other global markets with the goal of yielding better results. This only proves once again that the country’s global stamp in technology is here to stay. With the 2020 Global Pitching Competition Programme, KISED and SparkLabs hope to introduce more of Korea’s finest to the global market.
– –
This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by SparkLabs
We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.
The post 15 South Korean startups set to pursue the Southeast Asian market appeared first on e27.