Kyowon Group Announces Recruitment for 4th Startup Collaboration Program

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[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dong-hyun] Kyowon Group announced on the 13th that it will hold the ‘2022 Kyowon Deep Change Startup Prize’ contest until May 5th and recruit the 4th batch of companies.

The contest is held under the theme ‘Get Unexpected Synergy Together.’ Especially this year, Kyowon Group is collaborating with Home&Shopping and the Seoul Business Agency (SBA) to discover more promising startups, expand support, and actively promote co-growth and ecosystem revitalization with startups.

The contest fields are △ Edutech & Content △ ICT & Digital-based Innovative Technology △ Lifestyle △ Media & Commerce, totaling four categories. Any startup at the Series A stage or later with innovative technology and creative business ideas in these areas can apply.

In the Edutech & Content category, startups with innovative ideas in educational content and services for infants and adults, as well as intellectual property (IP) such as videos, webtoons, and characters, and SaaS-based integrated academy management solutions are sought.

The ICT & Digital-based Innovative Technology category seeks outstanding startups with technologies related to blockchain and metaverse ecosystems, AI and big data analytics, image/video recognition and synthesis, cloud services, and fintech.

In Lifestyle, startups focusing on new businesses for seniors or pets, healthcare, green tech, and travel tech are sought.

The Media & Commerce category accepts applications from promising startups in broadcasting technology and logistics fulfillment fields.

Companies selected for the 4th Deep Change Startup Prize will receive a total of approximately 1.6 billion KRW in investment and prize money. They will be provided with scale-up programs including collaboration opportunities with Kyowon Group and partners, investment attraction, and expert consulting. Additionally, they will have the opportunity to move into the shared office space ‘Kyowon StartOne Startup Space’ located in Seongsu-dong.

Since 2019, Kyowon Group has discovered a total of 43 startups through last year, achieving significant results, with cumulative investments reaching about 6 billion KRW.

Envizible, the first-place winner of the 2nd contest, developed a joint business model with Kyowon Group based on DIY interior modules and established the edutech experience space ‘Red Pen Experience Center.’ Currently, 186 branches of the ‘Red Pen Experience Center’ are operating nationwide. DeepBrain AI (1st batch), a digital AI human technology company, developed the first photorealistic AI tutor in the learning materials industry and applied it to the digital learning platform ‘AiCANDO.’ Additionally, Fever (3rd batch), a spin bike company, plans to soon launch a collaboration model linked with Wells’ newly introduced healthcare and home training services. AI-based travel recommendation company Myro (3rd batch) is working jointly with Kyowon KRT to innovate customer experience, and various other companies are also collaborating with Kyowon’s business divisions.

Applications for the 4th contest are open until May 5th. Detailed information on participation and the contest can be found on the Kyowon Deep Change homepage.

A Kyowon Group official said, “We are recruiting the 4th batch of companies to accelerate ‘Deep Change’ together with startups that are building innovative ideas and capabilities in each industry. Especially from this year, as we collaborate with Home&Shopping and the Seoul Business Agency, we will spare no support and investment to discover more promising startups and help them grow into unicorn companies.”

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