The Gangwon Creative Economy Innovation Center (CEO Hae-Jeong Lee, hereinafter referred to as the “Gangwon Innovation Center”) announced on the 12th that five of its investment companies were finally selected for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ Pre-TIPS and TIPS programs.
The five companies selected this time are ▲Freetips: Another Doctor Co., Ltd., Parotech Co., Ltd. ▲Tips: Conexi Co., Ltd., Biobits Co., Ltd., and Soundet Co., Ltd. All received seed investment from the "Gangwon Innovation Startup 1st Investment Fund," operated by the Gangwon Innovation Center, and have received various follow-up support since their investment.
Free Tips is a startup support program that identifies promising early-stage startups outside the metropolitan area and serves as a stepping stone for TIPS collaboration. TIPS is a joint project between private investment firms and the government to intensively nurture promising technology startups. Selected companies will receive up to KRW 800 million in support, including KRW 500 million in technology development funding and KRW 300 million in support for commercialization and overseas marketing over two years.
Another Doctor Co., Ltd. and Parotech Co., Ltd. were selected for Freetips through recommendations from the Gangwon Innovation Center, while Biobits Co., Ltd. and Soundet Co., Ltd. were selected for TIPS through recommendations from Kingsley Ventures and Kookmin University Technology Holdings, respectively.
Another Doctor Co., Ltd. (CEO Jeong Chang-hee), a company discovered through the "StartupBuS Tuesday IR Pitching Day," is developing "T-GRID," an AI-based tooth color normalization and automatic color matching solution. Parotech Co., Ltd. (CEO Park Cheol-jae), a company discovered through the "Gangwon Bridge Deployment Program," is developing a platform for retrofitting electric vehicles for special-purpose vehicles. Conexi Co., Ltd. (CEO Choi Young-il), also discovered through the "StartupBuS Tuesday IR Pitching Day," is developing a distributed data storage service based on IPFS technology.
Biobits Co., Ltd. (CEO Lee Jeong-woo) is a company discovered through the '2025 G-Startup Early Startup Support Project'. It is developing a comprehensive management questionnaire service for sarcopenia in the elderly and is currently collecting data mainly from hospitals in the Gangwon region. It is also pursuing data sales to pharmaceutical companies and follow-up investments of 1 billion won in the future.
Soundet Co., Ltd. (CEO Shin Yong-seop) is a company discovered through the '2020 G-Startup Challenge'. After a business pivot, it operates a music distribution data platform for music planners and succeeded in securing paying customers and proof of concept (PoC) during the pilot (beta) service period.
All five companies have participated in the StartupBuS program, which has been in operation since this year. Through the StartupBuS program, the Gangwon Innovation Center not only provides rapid investment in local startups but also supports the rapid growth of technology-based companies through its FreeTips and TIPS partnerships.
Lee Hae-jeong, CEO of the Gangwon Innovation Center, said, “All five companies are excellent startups that the center discovered and invested in early on, and they were able to achieve significant growth through seed investment.” He added, “As a venture builder in the Gangwon region, we will continue to do our best to invest in and nurture early-stage startups.”
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