LG CNS Selects and Nurtures 7 Promising Startups as 'Startup Monster'

Fostering 10 Companies Over 3 Years... Average 5x Growth in Corporate Value

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] LG CNS announced on the 12th that it has selected seven promising startups for the 5th batch of ‘Startup Monster’.

‘Startup Monster’ is a technology-based startup incubation program operated by LG CNS for the fifth time since 2018 as part of its ‘Open Innovation’ strategy. LGCNS gains the effect of early securing new digital transformation (DX) technologies and future strategic partners, creating a win-win synergy.

LG CNS provides the startups finally selected this year with benefits such as a 6-month ▲new technology PoC (proof of concept) ▲opportunities to propose solutions to LG CNS’s clients ▲and a total support fund of 700 million KRW, with 100 million KRW each.

About 320 companies applied for the 5th batch of ‘Startup Monster,’ the largest number of startups ever. LG CNS selected seven companies: ▲Symbiote AI ▲SelectStar ▲Boinosis ▲Carpenstreet ▲FitFunds ▲SmartMind ▲Lookco. They possess specialized technological capabilities in DX fields recently gaining attention, such as the metaverse (extended virtual world), artificial intelligence (AI), and MyData.

Symbiote AI, which developed the avatar social application ‘VTuber,’ and LG CNS are expected to collaborate on the metaverse contact center (MVCC) by linking metaverse and AI technologies. The metaverse contact center is a service combining AI contact centers (AICC) with the metaverse.

SelectStar’s main business is ‘data labeling,’ where AI processes data in a form that enables self-learning. SelectStar has previously collaborated with LG CNS on ‘CoQuad 2.0.’ ‘CoQuad 2.0’ is a Korean standard dataset for AI learning consisting of over 100,000 items produced by LG CNS. LG CNS plans to carry out various projects with SelectStar to improve data quality management and AI performance.

‘Boinosis’ provides early prediction and prevention services for dementia by analyzing acoustic features of human voices such as tone and volume using AI. Clinical trials are currently underway with major large hospitals. Collaborating with LG CNS’s ‘Language AI LAB,’ they can analyze human voices more precisely. In the future, both companies may also promote the commercialization of MyData in the healthcare sector.

Meanwhile, LG CNS has selected and nurtured 10 promising startups through ‘Startup Monster’ over the past three years. The corporate value of these startups recognized in the current investment market has grown on average fivefold compared to the time of selection. Three startups have seen their corporate value increase more than tenfold.

Jeon Eun-kyung, Executive Director of LG CNS Information Technology Research Institute, emphasized, “Over the past five years, ‘Startup Monster’ has become an open win-win platform between large corporations and startups, with more than 1,000 startups applying. LG CNS plans to continuously create DX collaboration results centered on customer value by expanding strategic partnerships with promising DX startups through follow-up equity investments.”

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