SK Telecom and Hana Bank held the 'AI Startup Accelerator 2nd Demo Day' (hereinafter referred to as Demo Day) at the SK T-Tower Supex Hall on the 18th. About 100 people including Hana Bank, SK Telecom, and companies selected for the 2nd round attended the event.
This demo day was a place to share the achievements of the 15 companies selected for the 'AI Startup Accelerator 2nd Batch'. The companies selected in July last year benefited from various growth support programs, from office space provision to business cooperation, mentoring, investment, and promotion.
On this day, Demo Day was divided into two parts, and there was also a panel discussion. In Part 1, Koneshio H, Pilsang, Mesacure Company, Works AI, Lucent Block, Vtouch, and Aim Intelligence gave presentations, and in Part 2, Toonsquare, Lucid Lab, XL8 AI, Cubic, Some Technologies Korea, Ant, Allganize Korea, and Inhance gave presentations.
SK Telecom ESG Promotion Office Director Eom Jong-hwan emphasized startup fostering by saying, “I think it is meaningful that SK Telecom and Hana Bank have helped startups with their experience and capabilities. We will continue to support and foster startups so that we can coexist.” Hana Bank Digital Innovation Group Director Lee Seon-yong said, “It seems like a new era has arrived. Hana Bank Group is also trying to increase work productivity through AI. We will support more AI startups.”
■ Panel Discussion
There was also a panel discussion on the growth and development of AI startups. Venture Square’s CEO Myeongseung served as the moderator, and the panelists included Liner CEO Jinwoo Kim, Nota CEO Myeongsu Chae, Allganize Vice President Wonkang Lee, and Els L8 Korea Branch Director Minje Choi.
Q. What do you think about support from large companies?
CEO Kim Jin-woo: AI has no borders. Rather than developing with the door closed, we need support from large companies and the government to create world-class technology. In particular, we can receive help from large companies in the distribution sector, and if technology development and distribution are in harmony, we can create a synergy effect.
CEO Chae Myeong-su: We compared our experiences of collaboration with large Korean companies and global big tech companies. American companies tend to carefully protect startup assets, and large Korean companies have also recently been making efforts to coexist with startups. Startups and large companies are cooperating in their respective areas of strength, and ultimately pursuing customer satisfaction through coexistence based on technological prowess rather than competition.
Lee Won-kang, Vice President: We are doing business in Korea, Japan, and the US. The approach is completely different in each region, and understanding and applying these differences is the key to success. In Japan, SaaS is preferred even though security is important for the product, while Korea prefers the on-premise method due to government regulations and cultural characteristics. The US is an infinitely competitive market. Japan has a great sense of urgency for AI transformation (AX), and Korea is only now beginning to recognize its importance.
Min-Je Choi, CEO: Using LS L8's Event Cat at SK Telecom-related events was a great help in raising company awareness.
Q. What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start an AI startup?
CEO Kim Jin-woo: Based on my own experience, don’t get stuck in the supplier’s perspective. Technology is just a means, and what’s most important is what kind of problem it solves for which person.
CEO Chae Myeong-su: You can't succeed with just excellent technology. Technology that accurately identifies and solves customer problems is what actually creates profits.
Vice President Lee Won-kang: The ability to quickly adapt to a rapidly changing environment is important.
Min-Je Choi, CEO: Rather than waiting for a perfect product, the shortcut to growth is to quickly launch it into the market, get feedback, and understand market needs.
■ Pitching (in order of presentation)
ConnexioH operates alternative credit rating system and e-commerce analysis service 'Maemopan'
KonexioH is a fintech startup founded by Professor Lee Kyung-ho and researchers at the Graduate School of Information Security at Korea University. It operates the Alternative Credit Rating System (ACSS) for online commerce businesses and the comprehensive analysis service 'Maemopan' for Naver Shopping businesses. In particular, it analyzes 1.13 million stores, 51,000 categories, and 380 million product information from the seven major marketplaces with 350,000 keywords to evaluate actual business capabilities based on the number of likes, delivery speed, and sales grade, and KB Card, Shinhan Card, BC Card, and Kakao Bank are utilizing this system for credit screening. It has been recognized for its technological prowess, winning the Grand Prize in the Financial Services Commission's D-Testbed Credit Rating Enhancement Sector in 2021 and being selected as one of the K-Fintech 30 in 2024. 'Maemopan' has achieved the result of securing 45,000 business operators in just one year since its launch.
Essentially, we operate a solution called ‘Ssakdajab-a’ that prevents financial crime damage by blocking malicious URLs in real time.
Pilsang is a startup that developed 'Ssakdajab-a', an AI-based real-time malicious URL blocking solution. In order to overcome the limitations of the existing blacklist method, it introduced a dual verification system that comprehensively judges the source code analysis of the URL and web search results. It currently has 300,000 users, analyzes an average of 500,000 URLs per day, and blocks 150,000 malicious URLs. In early 2023, it acquired SMS access rights from Google, gaining recognition for its technological prowess. It is expanding its territory to the public and financial markets by cooperating with Korea Electric Power Corporation, Woori Bank, Hana Bank, and others.
Mesacure Company Develops Accurate, Fast, and Safe AI-Based Facial Recognition Solution
Mesacure Company is a company with world-class facial recognition technology. Based on its technological prowess that can identify 1 out of 10 million people in just 0.06 seconds, it provides financial digital identity verification (e-KYC) solutions, public mobile ID services such as mobile driver's licenses, national merit certificates, and resident registration cards, a non-face-to-face test monitoring service that can supervise more than 20,000 people simultaneously, and an unmanned KIOSK facial recognition system. It supplies solutions to major financial institutions such as Hana Bank and has the largest number of references in Korea. More than 6 million people have experienced the company's facial recognition. Since its establishment in 2020, it has attracted a total of 9.5 billion won in investment and received awards such as the Minister of Science and ICT Award, receiving recognition for its technological prowess.
Works AI, AI secretary specialized for office workers
WorksAI is an enterprise AI integrated platform developed by AI3. It is a service that integrates major AI models such as GPT, Claude, and Deepl into one and provides them at a low pay-as-you-go rate. Through 43 types of business AI apps, you can utilize AI with just a click without complex prompts, and it supports everyday tasks such as writing reports, organizing meeting minutes, and reviewing contracts. In particular, it provides functions specialized for Korean companies such as automatic creation of Korean plans and proposals, OCR function, mobile support, and triple dialogue safety system, and achieved the result of 100 companies introducing it within a month of its launch in December 2024, and plans to supply it to 1,000 companies this year.
Lucent Block, Real Estate Fragment Investment Product Issuance and Distribution Platform ‘Ownership’ Operation
Lucent Block is a company that operates 'Soyou', the No. 1 real estate piece investment service in Korea that securitizes commercial real estate and allows for small investments. It was designated as an innovative financial service by the Financial Services Commission in April 2021 and provides services safely and transparently. Real estate investment is possible in small units of 5,000 won, and liquidity is secured through real-time token securities (ST) trading. It currently has 370,000 members, and it is characterized by 70% of the MZ generation and 40% of female users, and it provides various experiences as an owner, such as building use benefits and participation in offline events, beyond simple investment.
Vtouch develops voice recognition ring 'Whispering'
Vtouch is an innovative startup in the voice interface field with 71 registered patents and 55 pending patents. The wearable device 'WIZPR RING' with voice interface technology is an innovative voice interface product that selectively recognizes only the user's intended voice by applying proximity voice activity detection technology (PVAD). You can freely communicate with AI even in situations where it was difficult to use a computer in the past, such as walking, exercising, and driving, and it can accurately recognize even whispered voices, so you can use it while protecting your privacy in public places. It provides various functions such as sending messages, controlling music, and managing schedules, and has already secured 200 million won in pre-orders through North American crowdfunding and will be officially launched in March.
Aim Intelligence Develops Generative AI Security Red Teaming and Red Guard Solutions
Aim Intelligence is an AI security startup that supports the safe and ethical use of AI systems. It provides Aim Red, a diagnostic tool that automatically finds vulnerabilities in AI systems, and Aim Guard, a solution that defends against them. Aim Red has over 30,000 vulnerability patterns and has recorded a 94.4% penetration rate, which is higher than Microsoft's PyRIT, and Aim Guard has achieved a 99% protection rate with a dual defense system in the input/output stage. The company, led by CEO Sang-yoon Yoo, a graduate of Seoul National University, has been recognized for its technological prowess by participating in projects with major domestic telecommunications companies and global AI company Antropic, and has attracted investment from Mashup Ventures.
Toonsquare, operates 'Tuning' and 'Tuning Plus' to help create content with generative AI
Toonsquare is a startup that operates an AI webtoon production platform. It provides 'Tuning Plus', a professional webtoon and web novel production platform for college students and the general public, and 'Tuning', an AI webtoon production tool for elementary, middle, and high school students. 'Tuning Plus' provides the story creation tool 'Stories', the 3D-based image production tool 'Tuning Plus 3D', and the 'Editor' function that enables real-time collaboration. 'Tuning' is currently used by 652 schools, 16,000 teachers, and 224,000 students. Since its establishment in 2019, it has attracted investments from Samsung Electronics, SoLab, NPartners, IPX, CNTUS, ISU Venture Capital, and A.O.I, and recently established a corporation in Delaware and is making full-fledged advances into the North American market.
Lucid Lab operates 'Doppel', an anonymous open chat platform based on interests
Lucid Lab is a startup that aims to solve the loneliness of modern people. It operates an anonymous chat platform called 'Dople' that was launched in May 2023. Unlike existing SNS, Dople provides a 'Chatlog' service that allows free communication without the burden of self-promotion or perfect content creation, and activates conversations through an AI assistant called 'Dochi'. Currently, 83% of users are women in their 10s and 20s, an average of over 7,500 chats are created per day, and it has a monetization model through the 'Doken' system. Recently, it is preparing to enter the Japanese market and Indonesia.
XL8, specialized translation solutions for media and colloquial language, operates 'Event Cat' and 'Media Cat'
XL8 is an AI translation startup founded in Silicon Valley in 2019 by experts from Google, Apple, and Qualcomm. It provides 'MediaCat' and 'EventCat' services based on contextual understanding and multimodal translation technology. MediaCat, a video translation tool, has a translation accuracy 40% higher than that of global companies and has been adopted by Netflix, Disney, and others, and EventCat, a real-time interpretation solution, is used by over 10,000 people for over 50,000 hours every month and supports over 40 languages. XL8, which has attracted a cumulative investment of 15 billion won, is accelerating its entry into the global media localization market.
Cubic, Development of Synthetic Data Creation, Transaction, Combination, and Analysis Solution with Performance and Security
Cubic is a specialized company in secure synthetic data that combines differential information protection technology and generative AI, and has developed 'data non-access technology' that can generate synthetic data without viewing the original data. Its main services include B2B SaaS 'DTS' that allows companies to internally generate synthetic data and 'azoo', a data transaction platform that utilizes synthetic data, and it is preparing to enter the global market based on advanced synthetic data technology that only four companies in the world possess. Since its establishment in 2021, it has attracted investments from Naver D2SF, VNTG, Industrial Bank of Korea, and Intops Investment, and its technological prowess has been recognized, including by winning the Minister of Science and ICT Award at the Information Protection Product Innovation Awards in 2024.
Some Technologies Develops Conversation Analysis and Automation SaaS Solutions
Some Technologies is a startup that uses AI technology to solve the problems of information overload and disconnection in corporate communication. It is developing four core solutions: a meeting solution (AI-based automatic meeting minutes), a sales solution (sales conversation context analysis), an analysis solution (business context analysis), and a customer support solution (AI chatbot). Led by CEO Jae-won Jeong, who is from Amazon, the company has an STT model that has learned over 7,000 hours of technical terminology data and a self-developed small language model, and has established partnerships with major corporations such as LG CNS, SK Telecom, and Hana Bank, and has attracted investment from Naver and Kakao Ventures.
Ant, AI/digital support specialized in bio, nano, and chemical fields
Ant is a startup that supports the digitalization of research data in the fields of bio, nano, and chemistry. It operates ‘Labnote’, which systematically records and manages research data, and ‘Labnote Scalar’, an AI research assistant. It possesses research data standardization technology that classifies and tags experimental conditions, materials used, and progress processes in detail using its own algorithm, and through this, it achieved the results of reducing the time for writing research notes and reports by 38.2% and increasing experiment time by 55.8%. Major research institutes and companies such as Seoul Asan Medical Center, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, and LG Household & Health Care are utilizing Ant’s solutions, and it has attracted 3 billion won in investment by 2022.
Organize, AX Innovation Leading Company
Allganize is growing rapidly, leading the AX (AI Transformation) innovation of companies. Founded in 2017, Allganize is providing AI solutions to approximately 390 companies in the US, Japan, and Korea through its corporate LLM platform 'Alli'. With RAG technology, it enables AI to utilize internal corporate documents, recommends or provides the optimal LLM depending on the situation, and allows the creation of AI apps directly in the field with a no-code-based app builder. This is a comprehensive solution that enables AI utilization across the entire company. In particular, it is preparing for a bigger leap forward, such as targeting a listing on the Japanese stock market in the fourth quarter of this year.
Enhance, operating AI agent platform based on large action model
Inhance is an AI company established in 2021 that is the only one in the world to commercialize the Large Action Model (LAM), which converts natural language commands into actual actions, and supports the operation of more than 1,000 marketplaces in 50 countries through 'CommerceOS' based on this. Composed of 12 specialized AI agents, CommerceOS automates the entire process of product registration, sales, and operation, and processes 170 million pieces of product data per day with over 99% accuracy with its self-developed AIAP (AI Agent Platform) technology. It has been introduced by global companies such as P&G, Samsung Electronics, and CJ, and has attracted a total of 29 billion won in investment.
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