KT to Foster Digital Health and NFT Startups with Daejeon City

'Global Scale-Up with KT' in Progress

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] KT is supporting the growth of promising local startups in Daejeon in the fields of digital health, robotics, ICT convergence, metaverse, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

On the 21st, KT announced that it will collaborate with Daejeon City to recruit about 10 promising local startups across five sectors and help them expand globally through the ‘Global Scale-up with KT’ program.

The Global Scale-up with KT program is part of the ‘Joint Cooperation Project Agreement’ signed by KT and Daejeon City in May last year, designed to revitalize the startup ecosystem around the Daejeon Startup Park. The application period runs from the 21st of this month to March 25.

Selected companies will receive KT’s global scale-up acceleration support starting with a kickoff in April through September. Professional mentors and experts from the global venture capital (VC) firm ‘Nautilus Investment’ will participate to assess and mentor the selected companies. Seminars on IR pitching education related to localization, market discovery, and investment attraction will also be prepared. Partner networking events and a ‘Biz Collaboration’ program for one-on-one customized support will be conducted simultaneously.

Among the selected startups, the final outstanding companies will receive awards worth a total of 50 million KRW, along with opportunities to participate in overseas exhibitions and global investor seminars to strengthen their global capabilities. Applications can be submitted online, and inquiries can be made through the KakaoTalk channel.

Cho Hoon, Executive Director of KT SCM Strategy Office, said, “We hope this global capability enhancement program, conducted in cooperation with the Daejeon Startup Park ecosystem creation project, will be an opportunity to discover global unicorns in Daejeon. We will strive to activate business and enhance corporate value by connecting KT’s Digico business with innovative startups.”

Daejeon City stated, “By collaborating with KT, which leads Korea’s information technology, to promote the global support program, we have accelerated the creation of the Startup Park ecosystem. We will ensure that the success story of Korea’s global innovative startup model is achieved right here in Daejeon.”

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