SEOUL, Korea – The October 19-20 “Asean-Korea Startup Week” online pitching contest for Asean startups, organized by the Asean-Korea Center, winds up today.
Twenty-seven promising early-stage startups selected from the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) member states are taking part in the event.
Hosted by the Centre since 2018, the program aims to strengthen the network between Asean and Korean startups and facilitate investment opportunities for Asean startups.
For the fifth installment of the program, the Asean-Korea Centre organized a new two-week Acceleration Program (September 19-30) for the participating Asean startups that provided a platform for them to share innovative ideas, meet potential business partners, and engage in capacity building activities.
The Acceleration Program was developed and executed in cooperation with Born2Global, an agency under the South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT that specializes in accelerating and incubating startups for global expansion.
Topics covered during the program include market segmentation and pricing, human resource management, marketing strategy, legal strategy, and pitching training.
These contents were delivered through lectures, group sessions, as well as individual mentoring sessions.
The program also provided an opportunity for the startups to have business meetings and engage with companies in Korea.
The startups nominated by Asean Embassies in Korea and Asean Coordinating Committee on Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (ACCMSME) from a variety of sectors including education, health data, fintech solutions, and blockchain will pitch their business ideas to venture capitalists from Korea and abroad.
The winner in the Pitching Contest will be awarded US$30,000 and will also be invited by the Asean-Korea Centre to attend NextRise (Korea’s largest startup exhibition) in 2023.
The pitching sessions will be streamed live via the Asean-Korea Centre’s YouTube Channel (http://www.youtube.com/akcsns).
The Asean, composed of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, is home to about 650 million people where the average population age stands at 31.2 years.
The Covid-19 pandemic has helped to expand widespread Internet access in the region, including for e-commerce activities, while the availability of business-friendly policies has also attracted a large volume of investment capital thus, creating a rich startup ecosystem.
The Korean government is also contributing to the growth potential of Asean startups by forming startup partnerships in the Asean and executing inter-governmental programs annually, while there is also a growing interest by Korean investors towards Asean startups.
Information on the participating Asean startups, and the program, in general, can be found on the official website (www.aseankoreastartupweek.com). (PR)