5 Startups Overcome 56:1 Odds to Make D-Day Stage in January
‘d·camp’ (Korean Banks Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs) announced on January 26th that it had selected five companies at this year’s first D·DAY event, held at D.CAMP in Gangnam, Seoul. Differing from previous months where winners were chosen, this D·DAY was conducted as a competition-free demo day, eliminating the concept of winners and losers. The five companies, overcoming a 56 to 1 competition rate to reach the finals, will receive up to 300 million won in investment from ‘d·camp’, priority investment review opportunities from co-sponsors, and a one-year residency at D.CAMP and FRONT1.
Co-sponsors and judges included Springcamp (Director Ko Kyung-pyo), SVENTURES (CEO Kim Hyun-chul), Bluepoint Partners (Director Hwang Hee-chul), TheVentures (CEO Kim Chul-woo), Enlight Ventures (CEO Park Moon-soo), IP PARTNERS (CEO Lee Sun-ho), Time Works Investment (CEO Na Jong-yoon), and KDB Infra.
Stream Music, the first presenter, operates the music publishing platform ‘Strawberry Fields’. Normally, music agencies and producers receive thousands of demo songs from publishing companies, a process that incurs considerable time and cost. Stream Music addressed this issue by successfully transitioning to digital with Strawberry Fields, significantly reducing costs. Currently, about 1,300 creators use the platform, efficiently managing the entire process from listening, evaluating, selecting, to storing thousands of demo songs. The platform also offers the industry’s lowest royalty distribution rates as a fee borne by creators upon contract signing.
CGinside offers iHOPPER, Korea’s first legal and regulatory risk management SaaS (Software as a Service) solution. With over 100 legal and regulatory changes daily, many institutions and companies face significant cost burdens. Globally, 40% of companies spend over KRW 32.5 billion annually on risk management. CGinside’s AI analyzes news and automatically collects and analyzes over 200 types of GR (Government Relations) data such as bills, personnel, and schedules 24/7. It also monitors news and SNS data for public opinion, issues, and reputation, predicts bill passage likelihood, and dynamically tracks over 100,000 domestic regulations around the clock, offering six total solutions.
Ronik is developing ‘CUBE’, a robotic chef designed to solve staffing shortages in the restaurant industry. With the necessary ingredients loaded, and recipes inputted via an app, CUBE autonomously handles everything from setting up dishes and measuring ingredients to cooking and packaging. Modular in design, CUBE can be customized for different restaurant sizes. For example, the ‘small restaurant type’ combines the basic CUBE set with two modules and could reduce labor costs by about 12 million won with a monthly rental fee of 2 million won. CUBE has been tested for non-heated foods like salads and yogurt bowls in university food courts, cafes in Seongsu-dong, and Hyundai Department Stores, and is currently developing heating modules. The goal is to create an automated store for the entire process from ordering to delivery, in collaboration with delivery platforms.
‘From Seoul’ is developing ‘EDEN’, a market studio where virtual reality avatars can be created and traded. Its advantage lies in the ease of creating avatars without specialized software knowledge and using them seamlessly in real-time broadcasting or virtual reality platforms. It also provides SDKs (Software Development Kits) for corporate clients and developers. EDEN, which has developed metaverse content with SM CULTURE PARTNERS and completed a proof of concept (PoC), is set to officially launch within the year.
Agricultural Corporation MUSH& is a company dedicated to researching and developing future foods based on mushroom mycelium. With its expertise in mushroom mycelium-based materials, MUSH& has registered six types of mushroom mycelium ingredients, including Sanghwang mushroom, with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Focusing on functional materials of strains, the company is engaged in ODM (Original Design Manufacturing) and CMO (Contract Manufacturing Organization) businesses. Selected as a Korea Food Research Institute family company, its ingredients have been recognized for their antioxidative and immune-boosting properties and featured in the International Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences. MUSH& currently holds 25 mushroom strains and is rapidly commercializing with large clients, including food, pet food, and cosmetics companies, based on these functional new materials.
February’s D·DAY will be themed around startups seeking global investment. d·camp, which has contributed to the creation of over 1.7 trillion won in global specialized funds, along with K-Growth, Korea Venture Investment, and Woori Asset Management, will recommend global VCs to participate as co-sponsors and judges.
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