Bluepoint CEO Yongkwan Lee: "Innovation Will Happen as 'Atom' and 'Bit' Compete"

Bluepoint Partners to Hold 10th Demo Day on the 11th

"The innovation that will occur in the future will be realized through competition and mutual complementarity between 'Atom' and 'Bit,' and we must prepare and get ready for such innovation," said Lee Yong-kwan, CEO of Bluepoint Partners, at the 'Bluepoint Demo Day 10' held on the 11th. The theme of the event was also 'Atom vs Bit,' which poses the question of which attempts among broadly defined 'deep tech,' including artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, will lead changes in daily life and industry. Physical innovation is represented by the atom, the basic particle of matter, while digital innovation is expressed by the bit, the smallest unit of information processing.

CEO Lee said, "The internet blossomed on top of the physical innovation called the computer, and then the smartphone, which moved the computer onto the palm of the hand, activated the digital app ecosystem." Web services developed significantly on PCs, and mobile app services greatly advanced on smartphones. He explained that bit-based innovation occurred on top of physical (Atom) based innovation, and when bit-based services reached their limits, new physical innovations emerged. He added, "Bits and atoms, which have repeatedly developed complementarily, are meeting and growing in various fields such as aerospace, quantum computing, AI, and electric vehicles."

Lee Yong-kwan, CEO of Bluepoint, is speaking at the 'Bluepoint Demo Day 10' held on the 11th.

This field is especially gaining attention instead of digital platforms amid global technological hegemony competition and liquidity crises. The industry and investment ecosystem have reached an inflection point. CEO Lee said, "American venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz declared that it will invest in founders and startups that strengthen the future industrial competitiveness and national interests of the United States in aerospace, defense, supply chains, industry, and manufacturing," adding, "The U.S. government's America-first policy due to U.S.-China conflicts and the intention to solidify overwhelming leadership in innovative science and technology fields are fully reflected in the venture investment ecosystem, leading to a flood of venture capital into deep tech startups."

Deep tech requires relatively long research and development periods but has a strong industrial impact. Regarding this, CEO Lee said, "After a quiet period without public attention, when the technology level reaches a certain trajectory and is introduced to the public, it changes the industrial ecosystem landscape." This is also why Bluepoint invested in the startups participating in this Demo Day. Bluepoint classified startups invested in within the last three years under the 'Atom vs Bit' framework: ▲Space (Unastella, IDCT) ▲Quantum (Qutop, Qnova) ▲Climate (Poel, Greenery) ▲Wellness (Twinwiz, Summitz) ▲AI (Unicorn, Sorireul Boneun Tongro) ▲Electric Vehicles (Solitech, Scalar Data).

Startups introduced at Bluepoint Demo Days have been recognized for both technological capability and marketability. Medical device company 'Plasmap' and bio company 'InventiG Lab,' which appeared in the early Demo Days, successfully listed on the KOSDAQ market last year. 'AI Digital Dental Solution' Imago Works and legal tech company Elbox, introduced three years ago, secured Series B investments of 10 billion KRW and 20 billion KRW respectively at the end of last year despite the investment winter. About 800 people, including investors, academia, and large corporation officials, gathered at this year's Demo Day, with actual investors accounting for half of all attendees. A Bluepoint official said, "We will continue to play a role in connecting and expanding the early investment ecosystem through various attempts that simultaneously consider startups, markets, and investors."

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