Lotte Ventures to Invest Up to 300 Million KRW and Collaborate with Promising Food Tech Startups

Open Innovation 'Miraesikdan 3rd Cohort'
Recruiting for POC and Investment Types

Lotte Ventures announced on the 4th that it has selected the third cohort of 'Miraesikdan,' a food tech specialized open innovation program.

Miraesikdan (The Food Changers) is an open innovation program by Lotte Ventures, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency), the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Startup Promotion Agency), and Lotte Group's food and distribution affiliates.

This Miraesikdan recruited in two formats: the POC type, which conducts proof of concept (POC) with Lotte Group affiliates, and the investment type, which aims for long-term collaboration with affiliates.

Companies selected for the POC type receive differentiated support of a total of 50 million KRW for POC execution and up to 100 million KRW for research and development (R&D) funding. Companies selected for the investment type receive up to 300 million KRW per team in investment, along with mentoring and collaboration opportunities linked to affiliates.

Additionally, various benefits and shared office spaces are provided to support business operations. A demo day for performance presentation is scheduled for December, and follow-up investment attraction will be reviewed through evaluation.

A total of four companies were selected for Miraesikdan 3: △ Dosigokgan (a premium side dish curated shop connecting local small-scale farmers and urban consumers), △ SmartArc (developer of an automation platform for plant factories producing single or small variety large-scale crops), △ Ageat Labs (developer of health-oriented products containing the functional ingredient 'mucin' derived from natural materials), and △ Broccoli Company (a local branding company discovering regional stories and materials to coexist with consumers).

A Lotte Ventures official stated, "Miraesikdan 3 is expected to foster win-win cooperation by discovering ideas and technologies together with Lotte Group affiliates such as Lotte Mart, Lotte GRS, and Lotte Central Research Institute, and supporting development and commercialization."

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