Five Innovative Tech Startups Expand Overseas Through 'Startup Autobahn'

Mercedes-Benz Korea Announces Performance of 5 Selected and Nurtured Companies
Top Startup Among 5 Receives Direct Commercialization Technology Development Support from Daimler Headquarters in Germany

On the 10th, Jang Young-seung, CEO of Seoul Business Agency, delivered a congratulatory speech at the 'Startup Autobahn Korea' performance sharing event (Expo Day).

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The project outcomes of companies selected through the global startup discovery and nurturing platform, 'Startup Autobahn Korea,' have been revealed. Startup Autobahn is a platform designed by the Daimler Group (the parent company of Mercedes-Benz) to discover startups with the capability to enter the global market in the future mobility sector. Korea is the seventh country in the world to implement this program.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Park Young-sun, hereafter MSS) announced that it held the 'Startup Autobahn Korea' performance sharing event (Expo Day) on the 10th in cooperation with Mercedes-Benz Korea. Startup Autobahn Korea was conducted based on the startup discovery and nurturing cooperation system established last year between Seoul Startup Hub and Mercedes-Benz Korea. Starting with recruiting participating companies in July, five final teams were selected through a three-stage in-depth evaluation targeting promising domestic startups, and a '100-day program' was conducted from September to December.

The five startups participating in the 100-day program were Seoul Robotics, Thirteens Floor, Vestella Lab, Happy Technology, and Coconut Silo. They closely collaborated with employees from Mercedes-Benz Korea and Daimler Truck Korea’s operational departments, conducting pilot projects to solve various corporate demands through the startups’ innovative services and technologies. Seoul Startup Hub plans to continue follow-up support so that these five startups can develop commercialization technologies and pursue global expansion through future cooperation with Daimler headquarters in Germany.

The Expo Day was held online (YouTube live broadcast) to comply with social distancing measures. Following an expert panel session, the five startups shared the results of their pilot projects. The panel session featured speakers including David Go, Vice President of the Asia-Pacific region at Singapore’s PTV Group; Charlie Wilson, Daimler Partnership Manager at UK navigation startup What3words; and Lee Soo-bin, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Cochlear.ai, which won an award at the Mercedes-Benz Korea hackathon last December.

In the performance presentations of the five final Startup Autobahn Korea teams, Seoul Robotics announced the development of a system that installs LiDAR sensors on infrastructure differently from existing solutions to collect data from autonomous driving shadow zones and provide it to vehicles, thereby enhancing autonomous driving safety. Thirteens Floor introduced remote vehicle maintenance training combining virtual reality (VR) and extended reality (XR) technologies, emphasizing the importance of non-face-to-face education amid the recent COVID-19 situation. Vestella Lab presented a smart parking service that uses a digital map-based navigation system operable even in GPS-denied spaces, tracking vehicle locations indoors and guiding them to parking spots. Happy Technology unveiled a platform offering premium car wash services by expanding its service scope to include in-vehicle cleaning via a mobile app. Coconut Silo developed a service that monitors cargo and transportation status through a real-time location tracking system and enables the utilization of collected data.

Teams demonstrating outstanding results will receive support for commercialization technology development (R&D) and funding through government support projects, as well as opportunities to present their projects to global venture capitalists and partners at the German headquarters for project explanation and investment attraction. Minister Park Young-sun of MSS stated, "Looking at recent cases where innovative companies have grown, even in difficult situations like COVID-19, startups can pioneer the future if they have creative ideas and innovative technologies. Startup Autobahn Korea, held this time, will promote the overseas expansion of promising domestic startups. We will further expand collaboration with global companies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.