Gyeonggi-do Pet Industry Startup Contest, BenefitPet Wins Prestigious Grand Prize

60 Teams Compete... Total of 10 Teams Advance to Finals

Winners of the 'Gyeonggi-do Pet Industry Startup Contest' are taking a commemorative photo.

BenefitPet (Yoo Ji-soo), which received high marks for innovation, won the grand prize at the ‘Gyeonggi-do Pet Industry Startup Contest’ hosted by Gyeonggi-do.

According to Gyeonggi-do on the 17th, the startup contest is a competition-style startup support program under the ‘Pet Industry Startup Support’ project promoted by Gyeonggi-do, aimed at discovering outstanding young prospective entrepreneurs residing in Gyeonggi-do who have innovative ideas related to the pet industry.

A total of about 60 teams participated in the contest, and 10 teams selected through preliminary and final evaluations competed in the final round.

The final round took place on the morning of the 16th in Pangyo, and the judging was conducted by a panel of five experts related to the pet industry.

As a result of the final evaluation, BenefitPet (Yoo Ji-soo), which introduced a health management app for pets suffering from habitual luxation, received the highest score and was awarded the prestigious grand prize of this final competition.

This idea is an IoT-based healthcare solution that helps prevent and rehabilitate patellar luxation in pets. It is embedded inside an orthosis and detects correct wearing through pressure sensors and gyro sensors, supporting effective rehabilitation. It received favorable evaluations for innovation and creativity.

The excellence awards went to ‘Green Room (Lee Ye-young)’, who presented ‘Sprout Barley Pet Food for Obesity Prevention or Improvement Made from Eco-friendly Agricultural Products’, and ‘Pet in Universe Team (Pyeon Jin-beom)’, who introduced the ‘Pet in Universe’, a virtual pet fashion lifestyle AI integrated platform.

The functional well-being K-Pet food made from agricultural products, which received the excellence award, is a functional feed for obese dogs made from domestic agricultural products for fundamental health maintenance, and it is expected to have an import substitution effect.

Also, the virtual pet fashion lifestyle AI integrated platform creates a virtual avatar based on the characteristics and actual measurements of individual dogs, allowing users to try on and customize clothing that fits the size.

The merit awards were given to ‘Vinosys (Lee Geun-ho)’ for ‘Development of Diagnostic Devices for Pet Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Prognosis Monitoring’, ‘My Pet Guardians (Yoo Ga-hee)’ for ‘Animal Management System to Prevent Animal Abuse through Identity Verification and Data Linkage’, and ‘ActivePet (Lee Bo-kyung)’ for ‘AI Customized Nutrition Recommendation Solution Based on Pet Blood Data’.

The acute inflammation marker CRP diagnostic kit collects various disease factors present on a dog’s skin using microneedle technology and analyzes them with a field-use immunodiagnostic device, enabling easy diagnosis of diseases and prognosis in dogs. The pet healthcare product with dressing function for dogs and cats serves as functional recovery clothing that protects wounds and secures dressings after surgery, preventing secondary infections.

Additionally, the customized nutrition management solution based on pet blood data provides personalized management solutions and supplement recommendations based on blood test data of pets.

Furthermore, ‘Naris Company (Moon Ji-hee)’, ‘EcoPet (Park Jong-woo)’, ‘SuperPet (Kim Jang-i)’, and ‘Hypo Pet (Kim Chang-woo)’ received encouragement awards.

Prize money totaling 20 million KRW will be awarded along with certificates: 7 million KRW for the grand prize, 3.5 million KRW for the excellence awards, and 2 million KRW for the merit awards. In addition, extra points will be given when applying for the ‘2025 Pet Industry Startup Discovery and Startup Support’ project promoted by Gyeonggi-do.

Lee Eun-kyung, head of the Gyeonggi-do Pet Industry Division, said, “We will also strive to create a foundation by providing customized support so that startups with innovation in the pet industry can successfully launch.”

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