BNK Busan Bank, Startup Competition 'B-Startup Challenge' Awards Ceremony

BNK Busan Bank held the finals and awards ceremony of the 5th ‘B-Startup Challenge,’ a startup investment competition, on the 13th at the Ocean Hall on the 2nd floor of the Busan Bank headquarters.

The ‘B-Startup Challenge,’ established to discover innovative startup companies and revitalize regional investment attraction, is jointly hosted by Busan Bank, Busan City, and Busan MBC, and organized by the Busan Economic Promotion Agency and BNK Venture Investment. Over the course of five competitions so far, follow-up investment funds totaling 22.4 billion KRW have been secured after the awards.

Officials from the award-winning companies of the 5th B-Startup Challenge are taking a group commemorative photo.

The ‘B-Startup Challenge,’ the only financial sector investment attraction competition in Korea, offered a total prize of 300 million KRW, with 166 companies nationwide participating. After document screening, preliminary, and final rounds, five companies were selected as finalists.

The grand prize, the Busan Mayor’s Award, was given to Stemden, which develops a dental caries treatment using tooth regeneration technology, receiving a prize of 130 million KRW.

The gold prize, the Busan Bank President’s Award (80 million KRW), was awarded to Amp Co., Ltd.; the silver prize, the Busan MBC President’s Award (50 million KRW), went to UniUni; the bronze prize, the Busan Economic Promotion Agency President’s Award (30 million KRW), was given to Nutri Industry; and the special prize (10 million KRW) was awarded to YPet Co., Ltd.

The prize money is provided by Busan Bank in the form of equity investment, and all companies participating in the finals are granted priority to participate in the ‘SUM Incubator’ program, Busan Bank’s startup nurturing platform.

Additionally, BNK Venture Investment plans to promote investment connections with promising companies among the participants and provide continuous investment linkage and networking opportunities after the competition.

Bang Seong-bin, President of Busan Bank, who attended the awards ceremony, said, “The competition has been able to continue for five editions thanks to the achievements of the awarded companies and the high interest from emerging startups,” adding, “We will continue efforts to discover and support startup companies with innovative ideas and visions.”

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