Lotte Ventures Connects Korean-Japanese Startup Ecosystems... "Inheriting Shin Kyuk-ho's Pioneering Spirit"

13 Promising Korean and Japanese Startups Participate
Pitching and Investor Meetings Held

Lotte Ventures announced on the 17th that it is conducting the local program for the '2024 L-CAMP JAPAN 2nd Cohort,' which supports overseas expansion through exchange between the startup ecosystems of Korea and Japan, in collaboration with Lotte Ventures Japan and the Busan Creative Economy Innovation Center. This program has been underway in Tokyo for three days since the 16th.

L-CAMP JAPAN is a project that inherits the global pioneering spirit of Lotte founder Shin Kyuk-ho and helps startups expand overseas. It was first launched last year through cooperation between the Corporate Venture Capitals (CVCs) led by Lotte companies in both Korea and Japan.

Lotte Ventures will hold the 2nd L-CAMP JAPAN from the 16th to the 18th at TIB (Tokyo Innovation Base) in Tokyo, Japan, supporting the overseas expansion of 13 startups from Korea and Japan. Participants, including Youngmin Jeon, CEO of Lotte Ventures (fifth from the left), and Takeaki Kokubu, CEO of Lotte Ventures Japan (second from the left), are taking a commemorative photo.
[Photo by Lotte]

This year, the program added support not only for Korean startups entering Japan but also for Japanese startups entering Korea. Seventy companies applied this year, resulting in a competition ratio of 9 to 1.

The participating startups were selected from eight Korean and five Japanese startups specializing in music, video, applications, and other fields based on artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies. The recruitment and evaluation process began in August, with venture capital (VC) analysts from both countries participating in the evaluation stage to identify startups with potential and realistic plans that can succeed locally.

On the first day of the program, the 16th, one-on-one business meetings were held between the selected startups and startup stakeholders from both countries. To facilitate practical investment reviews, 13 accelerators and CVCs from both countries attended, including Lotte Ventures Korea and Japan, Shinhan Future’s Lab, Atinum Investment, Hyundai Motor Zero One, SBI Investment, and DG Daiwa VeNTURES.

Following this, a startup pitching session was held, attended by over 60 investment managers from startup support centers, VCs, and CVCs, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Korea Small and Medium Business Corporation. After the pitching session, a networking dinner was arranged for startups and investors.

On the same day, Korea and Japan Lotte Ventures held the launch ceremony for the 'Lotte Startup Cross-Border Program,' a startup support program crossing national borders. The program aims to discover startups and support local networks by utilizing Lotte Ventures’ infrastructure in Korea, Japan, the United States, and Vietnam to encourage early settlement in overseas markets. Regular startup IR events inviting venture capitals and startup support organizations from each country are also planned.

Additionally, sessions on Japan Trade Promotion Organization (JETRO)’s support policies for Korean startups entering Japan, general startup market insight lectures, and panel discussions sharing know-how from Korean startups that have successfully entered the Japanese market will be conducted.

Jeon Young-min, CEO of Lotte Ventures, said, "Despite having high business capabilities and technology, startups face difficulties in overseas expansion due to lack of local networks, language barriers, and understanding of local laws. Korea and Japan Lotte Ventures joined hands to help these startups." He added, "Based on the infrastructure formed through overseas expansion program operations and branch establishment, we will actively support excellent startups in pioneering global markets."

Lee Dong-wook, CEO of startup SpaceBNAI attending the event, said, "Japan has a larger retail and advertising market than Korea, with various forms of advertising, including in-store paper advertisements. Recently, demand and interest in new technologies such as digitalization and AI are rapidly increasing in the Japanese market. To quickly apply advertising performance measurement AI solutions in this market, local investment or partnerships are essential, which is why we participated in this program."

Lotte Ventures was established as Lotte Accelerator in 2016 under the will of Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-bin, who focuses on innovation with startups. Of the company’s initial corporate capital of 15 billion KRW, 5 billion KRW was personally donated by Chairman Shin. At the 2024 second half Value Creation Meeting (VCM) held in July, Chairman Shin stated, "Investing in promising startups to discover new business opportunities is meaningful for securing seeds of new growth."

Meanwhile, Lotte is strengthening cooperation between Korean and Japanese Lotte entities. Last month, Chairman Shin Dong-bin presided over the 'One Lotte Food Company Strategy Meeting' in Warsaw, Poland, seeking ways to secure global competitiveness through synergy creation between Korean and Japanese Lotte food companies. On the 8th, he visited Ghana in Africa with executives from Korean and Japanese Lotte food companies to inspect the cocoa supply chain and explore possibilities for entering the African market.

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