At the Giggs Showup IR competition, 10 startups selected by the Giggs Showup judging team, from Hyundai Motor’s in-house venture team to the professor’s start-up team, took the stage. Regardless of areas such as eco-friendly, mobility, and metaverse, startups that increase profitability with B2B business models and seek opportunities to enter the global market were chosen by the judges. These companies compete on the finals for a total prize money of 30 million won.
Poen, a battery re-manufacturing and reuse company, is the “big brother” among the participating companies in this event. After spin-off from Hyundai Motor’s in-house venture in 2020, it attracted 7.3 billion won worth of Series A investment from DSC Investment last year. Mobin, who came out with a wheel-type delivery robot, is also an in-house venture team of Hyundai Motor. Currently, it is in the initial stage of attracting investment and is set to spin off next month.
IPIN Labs, which developed indoor location tracking software, is a professor’s start-up team established by Yoo Jae-hyun, a full-time professor of artificial intelligence (AI) convergence at Sungshin Women’s University. Jin Seung-hyuk, CEO of Cleon, a virtual human production and voice dubbing solution company, will explain his global entry strategy based on the B2B business model. Blinkers, which operates the wine-based irreplaceable token (NFT) trading platform “Bank of Wine,” plans to announce its online and offline monetization strategy at the Giggs Showup.
○ Seoul Startup to Jeju
As Jeju Island, a tourist city, has emerged as a strategic hub for “eco-friendly smart cities,” related startups will also participate in the Giggs Show. Founded in 2015 by CEO Nam Sung-joon in his hometown of Jeju, Dajayo started from the perspective of viewing empty houses as resources, not as targets for demolition. Dajayo is shifting from an empty house regeneration accommodation business for individuals to a B2B business model such as work place (vacation remote work) accommodation and corporate villas.
Nain Company, which operates the eco-friendly mobility platform “Naver,” established a branch in Jeju Island with the support of JDC to leap into a tourism-type mobility service (MaaS). Workcation was also conducted in Jeju for all employees. Blue Whale Company, which operates the idle space brokerage platform “Luxstay,” will announce its strategy to leap to a logistics hub service in the city based on real-time commodity storage services.
Quantum Solution, a company specializing in battery condition management, moved its headquarters to Jeju Island. With the support of Jeju Island, the company developed a simple diagnostic device for the residual value of EV batteries last year. Nanum Energy is a global solar energy small and medium-sized company headquartered in Jeju Island. There are 2,125 solar power facilities for housing built by the company in Jeju and California, the U.S. Sharing energy technology was also used to build 189 solar power plants.
