What Did the 'Jeong Ju-Young Startup Competition,' Held Offline for the First Time in 3 Years, Focus On?

LRHR in Corporate Track and Preliminary Track Eligible for PloomD Award

Members of LRHR, who won the grand prize in the corporate track at the Chung Ju-yung Startup Competition, are taking a commemorative photo.

The 'Chung Ju-yung Startup Competition,' known as a cradle for promising domestic startups, focused on growth potential. Despite the current freeze in startup investments, the startup ecosystem can only develop if startups can sustain long-term growth and lead the market rather than just achieving immediate visible results. Both LRHR from the corporate track and Ploomdi from the preliminary track, which won the grand prizes this year, are startups with outstanding growth potential.

On the 27th, the '11th Chung Ju-yung Startup Competition' Demo Day was held at Amoris Hall on the 1st floor of Yeoksam GS Tower. Hosted annually by the Asan Nanum Foundation (Chairman Jang Seok-hwan), the Chung Ju-yung Startup Competition is a practical startup support program that discovers and supports startups embarking on new challenges. It began in 2012 and marked its 10th anniversary this year. The competition is characterized by its approximately eight-month duration, during which it intensively supports the growth of early-stage startups, establishing itself as a cradle for promising startups. Over the years, it has produced many promising startups such as MyRealTrip, Classting, and Doodlin.

This year’s competition was divided into a preliminary track and a corporate track to support the growth of more early-stage startups by separating pre-startup teams and startups established within two years. Starting recruitment in March, after document and interview screenings, 12 startup teams were selected from a highly competitive pool with a ratio of 73 to 1. These teams underwent a six-month business execution phase before taking the stage at this Demo Day.

After three years, the event was held offline, drawing significant attention to growing startups. About 700 people gathered at Amoris Hall in Yeoksam GS Tower, where the event took place. Outside the venue, booths were set up where attendees could directly experience various services and products from the 12 startups. The 12 teams that advanced to Demo Day included six teams in the corporate track: Nabi Effect, Disquiet, Munis, Splab, LRHR, and CameloTech. The preliminary track featured six teams: Sonus, Albam, Ecotect, WhyNotEdu, TM RFounders, and Ploomdi, all presenting their ongoing business activities.

The grand prize in the corporate track went to LRHR, which developed and operates the luxury repair platform 'Pappis.' During the business execution period, LRHR closely monitored customer feedback to refine its service and successfully attracted investment, achieving significant growth. Kim Jung-min, CEO of LRHR, said, "Thanks to various programs including expert mentoring during the competition, we have grown significantly. We will continue to do our best without faltering through any trials until the day we change the global luxury market landscape."

The corporate track excellence awards were given to Disquiet and Munis, while Nabi Effect, Splab, and CameloTech received encouragement awards. In the preliminary track, the grand prize was awarded to Ploomdi, which develops a 3D avatar rendering solution based on AI motion sequences. Albam and Ecotect received excellence awards.

One notable feature of this year’s competition was that many startups were recognized for the viability of their business models in the actual market through the business execution phase. For example, Kim Hyung-soo, partner at Forest Ventures, introduced Munis, an excellence award winner in the corporate track, as "a team that can create the best sleep experience every night." Munis CEO Kwon Seo-hyun presented an app that produces sounds to improve sleep quality. Having experienced insomnia herself, CEO Kwon said, "We updated the app more than 50 times based on feedback," adding, "We have already secured 12,000 users, and there are customers whose sleep problems have been resolved." Ploomdi CEO Lee Kyung-min, who won the preliminary track grand prize with a solution for creating virtual YouTubers (VTubers), said, "We are consistently communicating with 200 to 300 VTubers, most of whom have expressed their intention to use Ploomdi’s solution," and added, "We will develop technology that allows people to showcase their charm without prejudice."

Five industry experts, including venture capitalists and accelerators, served as judges at the Demo Day. Judging was based on criteria including team capability, business model, and entrepreneurial spirit. Lee Kang-soo, head of investment at Company K Partners, who conducted the judging, said, "It was difficult to rank the 12 teams on the Demo Day stage because I felt that all of them were number one."

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