The Korea Startup Forum (Chairman Sangwoo Han, hereinafter referred to as KSF) announced on the 17th that it held 'KSF IR Day with British Embassy', a practical IR program to support promising domestic deep-tech startups' entry into the European market, at the Aston Hall of the British Embassy in Korea on the 16th.
This event was held as a pre-program for COMEUP 2025, and was planned to expand COMEUP’s global network to the European market, while strengthening the overseas expansion capabilities of domestic deep-tech startups and establishing practical contact points with the European market. Through this event, COSPO established official exchange channels with the British Embassy in Korea and the UK Department for International Trade.
In the preliminary recruitment for selecting IR pitching participating companies, 77 startup teams in cutting-edge technology fields such as AI, robots, and healthcare applied, recording a competition rate of about 13 to 1. Of these, 6 companies, including ▲Mediology ▲Sevenpointone ▲Cubic ▲Eighttech ▲StudioGalilei ▲Portray, were finally selected and gave on-site presentations. They introduced their technological prowess and global expansion strategies, and the presentations were conducted entirely in English.
The judges were Noh Seok-hoon, Good Things Partner, Park Jong-han, Sparklabs Managing Director, and Lee Tae-gyu, Woori Venture Partners Team Leader, and they comprehensively evaluated the possibility of entering the UK market, the global scalability of the business model, technological differentiation, and feasibility. The judges provided specific feedback and advice based on their experience entering Europe.
The final winner was AI bio startup Portray. Portray received high marks for improving the efficiency and precision of new drug development by utilizing AI-based spatial transcriptome technology. The winning team will be provided with a booth at ComeUp 2025, participation in London Tech Week 2026, and business matching opportunities with local investors and partner organizations in the UK. In addition, all six companies were given the benefit of free membership in COSPO for one year.
At the event, Oh Su-hyeon, Chief of Staff of swIDch, the UK subsidiary of Senstone, presented a success story through the UK government’s Global Entrepreneur Program (GEP). He shared his experiences and strategies gained throughout the entire process of entry, including local corporation establishment, networking, investment attraction, and licensing procedures, and introduced practical measures and institutional resources that follow-up startups can utilize.
Choi Ji-young, Executive Director of Cospo, said, “For startups, global expansion is a key strategy for survival and growth,” and added, “Together with the British government, we have created an opportunity to support the global expansion of domestic innovative resources, and we will continue to actively support the expansion of global business opportunities for domestic startups through various practical programs, including ComeUp.”
Tony Clemson, Commercial Counsellor at the British Embassy in Seoul’s Department of Trade, Industry and Energy, said, “The UK has the largest startup ecosystem in Europe and the third largest in the world, with a value of over $1.1 trillion, over 150 unicorns, and over 25,000 invested startups. I hope that Korea and the UK will work together in deep tech fields such as AI and quantum technology to jointly lead the next generation of technological innovation.”
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