The three winners of K-STARTUP Demo Day plan to set foot in the European market. AimbeLab, Next Meta and Coconut Silo won the award at SLUSH 2022 K-STARTUP Demo Day, allowing them to form valuable connections with international investors that meet the companies’ needs.
20 Korean companies took part in the startup and tech event SLUSH in Helsinki.
Here they got the opportunity to introduce their innovations to attract possible investors for their enterprises to expand internationally and especially in Europe.
AimbeLab – Digitalizing the agriculture industry
AimbeLab won the first prize in the competition. The company offers digital AI-based solutions for livestock farmers and feed suppliers.
When CEO Byungsoo Go saw how his grandfather had to risk climbing up to the top of his silo every time to see if there was enough cattle feed left, he got the idea for his business. Being a third-generation farmer himself, Go founded the company in 2020.
AimbeLab offers an internet of things (IoT) device for livestock farmers that can be installed in the feed silo. The user can check how much feed is left and what the temperature, humidity and decay of the feed are through a connected mobile app. Likewise, the daily consumption can be monitored, making it simpler to know when to re-order feed.
Suppliers of feed can also monitor the clients’ silo content. In doing so it is possible to optimize the production needs and devise a delivery plan. “In this way, they [the feed producers] can schedule deliveries more efficiently and reduce the total number of deliveries per unit up to 30%,” company communicator Sein Kwon states. “With the reduction of delivery, we can reduce the total amount of CO₂ emissions.”
Currently, AimbeLab is field-testing their “smart silos”. This allows the feed monitoring device to be permanently installed in the silo from the beginning instead of being retrofitted in existing silos. “We are implementing our product not only in livestock feed but other products that use silos, for instance, grains, cement or sand,” Kwon explains their expansion plans. The company is also planning to produce their own feed as a retail business in the upcoming years.
Following their participation at SLUSH and the contact with other businesses, AimbeLab is looking for venture capitalists and other investors in the European market. Further, communicator Kwon says: “We are open to any kind of collaboration or partnership. Especially we try to expand our market to countries abroad.”
Next Meta – Modernizing teaching
Next Meta provides a mobile interactive learning solution for today’s students.
“When we look at our current education system it’s old fashioned, traditional and not-student-based,” CEO Jinkyo Choi explains, “I started Next Meta to build a solution that’s student orientated and provides an active learning solution for the next generation.” Choi herself has always been interested in education and entrepreneurship, having worked as a business accelerator before starting her own company.
The company offers its solutions for business-to-business clients that operate in the field of digital content as well as various educational institutions. Longer lecture videos are split into smaller videos which then get coupled with interactive learning models. The concept itself is mobile-orientated, making it possible to study anywhere and at any time.
According to founder Choi, this combination of learning methods helps to learn actively. Additionally, cognitive AI can recommend a fitting learning module for the user such as multiple choice, narrative answers or drag-and-drop functionality. The service is based on a subscription model, which is available in two variants.
Next Meta launched its product in November and is now focusing on gaining more customers and partners. So far, they are working with partners in Vietnam and Singapore.
After participation at SLUSH, Jinkyo Choi now wants to explore the European market: “Now I would like to talk to more clients and potential partners in Europe so we can expand our solution to Europe as well.” Besides the UK, Choi also mentions Finland as a potential country for a subsidiary in Europe.
Coconut Silo – Optimizing freight transport
Coconut Silo is a Hyundai spin-off company that specializes in AI-based problem-solving in the logistics and commercial vehicle area.
The COO of the company, Taewon Han, claims that the logistics industry is one of the slowest and most outdated: “The main reason that we started this company was to transform the industry itself based on the technologies that we have.”
Their product Cocotruck aims to unite shippers, carriers and providers of logistics on one platform. The three players are part of an ecosystem that allows communication with each other to optimize efficiency. Part of the services on the platform are, among others, pricing based on AI technology to balance supply and demand, real-time location tracking and online transport management.
In terms of environmental protection, the company states that by providing software as a service platform, customers can manage their resources easier thus making the company more sustainable. “Our next plan is optimizing our clients’ driving habits and routes so that they can make a bigger impact on environmental aspects,” Han explains.
Coconut Silo is planning to expand its business to Europe after having established branches in Asia but also in the United States. Finland, Luxemburg and Austria have become the focus of the company concerning their expansion plans.
“The reason we have Finland as a candidate is that Finland is a quite big country but has one of the nicest infrastructures,” Taewon Han emphasizes. He claims that the comparatively small population could also benefit the company as well as the given startup culture.
HT