Korea Innovation Center (KIC) Launched Korean Startups Landing Pad in the U.S.

  Washington DC - 09/03/2019 (PRESS RELEASE JET)

The Inaugural Event Hosted Six Korean Companies to Highlight the US Startup Ecosystem

On August 13, The Korean Innovation Center (KIC) Washington D.C. center, a Korean government-backed start up business accelerator, along with co-host Born2Global, a Korean government agency under the Ministry of Science and ICT contributing to the national startup ecosystem, held the B2G Roadshow program at the KIC Washington center. The event served to familiarize Korean startup companies to the US market for expansion and potential investment opportunities. It featured 6 innovative startups ranged from mobile software development and augmented reality to financial technology.

The six participating Korean startups were: 12CM (a mobile connected authentication service, http://www.12cm.co.kr), Hylium (compact hydrogen liquefication and ultralight liquid hydrogen storage technologies, http://www.hylium-industries.com), LetinAR (AR smart glasses, https://letinar.com), MOIN (cross border payment service based on Blockchain technology, https://www.themoin.com/), GSIL (Construction Safety Management Systems, http://www.gsil.kr/), LUXROBO (MODI-smart coding education platform, https://modi.luxrobo.com).

The event focused on the US market environment for startup companies and exploring strategies for business expansion and integration. KIC invited distinguished investors in D.C. area to give the startup companies an experience at providing in depth strategies based on market research and experience on how to pitch your business, overcome cultural barriers, and develop networking skills. The investors included Elizabeth Cho-Fertikh, PhD, a cancer biologist turned healthcare advisor, and founder of ECF BioSolutions, and Lawrence Dell, entrepreneur and Executive Director of the M&A Leadership Council. Together, the investors provided valuable lessons and feedback to the startup companies.

“It was evident that the B2G program helped to groom them well to meet with stakeholders outside S. Korea. Their proven business models in these regions place them on solid footing to enter the U.S. market,” Ms. Cho-Getikh said.

“I discovered that all six companies already possessed some key elements of a successful business such as passionate top management, innovation, creativity, and value proposition. With additional emphasis on the other critical business elements, they have the potential to build a business well positioned to succeed in global markets,” Mr. Dell mentioned.

Building on the success of the August event, KIC will be holding a global pitch contest for technology companies in November 2019. “KIC will continue to support the Korean tech startups through the constant connection with the experts of US industry focusing on global commercialization and investment promotion,” said Jung Moon, Director General of KIC Washington.

The Korean Innovation Center’s goal is to create a global startup ecosystem for South Korean innovation. With locations in Washington DC., Silicon Valley, Berlin and Beijing, KIC looks to discover and develop promising Korean technology companies through providing connections to foreign markets and delivering access to training programs.

The Washington DC branch of the KIC can be reached at kic@kicdc.org or (571) 405.6220. For more information, please visit the Korean Innovation Center Washington’s website at https://www.kicdc.org/