National Pukyong University Pre-Startup Team Selected as Finalists for 'Marine and Fisheries Startup Planner'

Neulim Team Selected Nationwide for Functional Feed for Ornamental Fish
Launching Marine Bio Startup with Busan Regional University United Technology Holdings

The pre-startup team 'Neulim' (faculty advisor: Seunghyung Lee) from the Department of Aquaculture Applied Life Science, College of Fisheries and Life Science at National Pukyong University, has been officially selected as a pre-entrepreneur for the '2025 Marine and Fisheries Startup Planner Accelerator Operation Program' run by Busan United Technology Holdings Co., Ltd. This selection recognizes the team as a promising startup in the marine and fisheries sector.

This program, supervised by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Korea Institute of Marine Science & Technology Promotion (KIMST), and operated by Busan Regional University United Technology Holdings, is designed to discover and foster startups in the fields of new marine industries and innovation in traditional marine and fisheries industries.

'Neulim' is a pre-startup team composed of Hyuncheol Jeon, a doctoral student in the Department of Marine Biology at National Pukyong University; Sangmin Park, Junhyuk Moon, and Jinwoo Jung from the Department of Aquaculture Applied Life Science; Dohyuk Kim from the College of Fisheries and Life Science; and graduate Eunchae Cho. Together, they have jointly developed a customized functional feed, 'NEURIM,' for aquatic turtles and ornamental fish.

'Neulim' team (top left to right: Hyuncheol Jeon, Sangmin Park, Junhyuk Moon, Jinwoo Jung; bottom: Dohyuk Kim, Eunchae Cho, Seunghyung Lee, faculty advisor) Courtesy of National Pukyong University

So far, the team has steadily built the foundation for commercialization through the development of feed formulas based on domestic ingredients, production of first and second prototypes, and the establishment of premium feed blends. Their goal for this year is to register the ingredients for a dedicated feed for semi-aquatic turtles and to officially launch sales.

After passing both document and presentation evaluations, the team was finally selected as marine and fisheries startup planners. As a result, they will receive 6 million won in initial funding and full-scale business support. They also began their official activities by participating in the 2025 Marine and Fisheries Startup Briefing Session, hosted by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and KIMST, on June 12.

In addition to the initial funding, the team plans to embark on full-scale startup activities, receiving follow-up support such as entrepreneurship education (from basic to advanced management), one-on-one mentoring with experts in fields such as law, patents, finance, and labor, as well as IR pitching enhancement, demo days, TIPS linkage, government project matching, and investment connections. Up to 15 million won in commercialization funds and opportunities for direct investment exceeding 300 million won will also be provided.

Furthermore, Busan Regional University United Technology Holdings plans to support their market entry and performance expansion through marine-specialized programs such as the B-Wave Open Table Technology Consultation, B-Next Wave Investment Networking, and Blue Wave PR (startup-focused promotion).

With this selection, 'Neulim' is expected to grow into a startup that not only commercializes technology based on their academic expertise, but also contributes to the structural improvement and value enhancement of the aquatic animal feed market.

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