Samsung Financial Networks Selects Four Top Startups at 'C-Lab Outside'

Samsung Financial Networks (Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Samsung Card, and Samsung Securities) announced on the 30th that it held the final presentation for the '2025 Samsung Financial C-Lab Outside' at Samsung Venture Investment and Samsung Financial Campus.

This C-Lab Outside, under the slogan "The First Step Toward the Future, Together with Samsung Financial," is Samsung Financial's flagship open innovation program that leads change in the financial industry through collaboration with startups. The competition was conducted by having startups propose and validate new solutions using their ideas and technologies to address challenges presented by each Samsung financial company.

About 400 startups applied to the contest held in February. After a screening process, 16 companies advanced to the finals in May. Over the following four months, these finalists worked closely with Samsung financial employees to refine their solutions, and after further evaluation, four startups were selected as the best. In addition to the 30 million won in support funds provided to each finalist, these four winners will each receive an additional 10 million won in prize money. They will also be supported to participate in the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in the United States next year.

Kim Itaek, President of Samsung Card (third from the left), is taking a commemorative photo with the award-winning startups that advanced to the finals, representing Samsung Financial Networks. Samsung Financial

The four top startups selected were SelectStar, Cyberwrite, GhostPass, and Pilsang.

SelectStar, chosen by Samsung Life Insurance, is a startup that provides data design and construction services for artificial intelligence (AI) training. The company plans to jointly develop engineering technology to utilize Samsung Life Insurance's internal data for large language models (LLMs).

Cyberwrite, selected by Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, offers corporate cyber risk assessment solutions. The company received high marks for validating the applicability of its cyber risk assessment model in the domestic cyber insurance market.

Samsung Card selected GhostPass, which provides biometric-based payment services, as its top startup and plans to explore collaboration in the payment sector.

Pilsang, chosen by Samsung Securities, is a startup that offers real-time detection of malicious URLs. The company received high marks for implementing a monitoring service that can quickly detect and respond to phishing sites impersonating financial institutions or illegal investment chat rooms.

The event was attended by Samsung employees, venture capital (VC) representatives, and accelerator (AC) officials. The finalists, including the top startups, were given opportunities for additional business partnerships and investment through networking.

Lee Seongwan, CEO of GhostPass, which was selected as the top startup by Samsung Card, said, "Through collaboration with Samsung Financial, we were able to confirm and further develop the potential of GhostPass's ideas and technologies. This partnership will be a great help to our company's growth."

Kim Itaek, President of Samsung Card, who attended the final presentation, said, "Startups are always first movers who open new doors even in challenging environments. I hope your challenges and achievements will inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs."

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