POSCO has revealed that it is supporting 14 startups this year. The 14 companies selected this year were announced at the 11th Idea Marketplace held in the Pohang Creative Economy Center on July 25.
POSCO CEO Ohjoon Kwon (left) talks about 3D hologram film developed by SSADT at the 11th Idea Marketplace held in the Pohang Creative Economy Center on July 25.
POSCO CEO Ohjoon Kwon said in his welcoming speech, “Creative innovation is the DNA of POSCO and the source of economic take-off. POSCO will strive to revive the local economy and create more jobs through nurturing competent startups.”
He added, “The Pohang Creative Economy Center is the nation’s only privately managed creative economy center. We will actively support the startups, which have been discovered in this center, through promoting their business while growing in the global market.”
The 14 startups that were introduced had been selected in March to be supported by POSCO and have since had their business plans verified while receiving mentoring by outside experts. At the Idea Marketplace, the IR session was carried out in front of an audience through one-on-one Q&A sessions between the directors of the startups and the panel.
SSADT has garnered attention with its technology that turns 2D images into 3D images by attaching a 10-nanometer holographic film to smartphones, tablets and notebooks. The company received positive reviews and is considered as being competitive in the industry for its large-scale nano mold technology, deadline efficiency and low pricing. Its holographic film will be adapted to the electronic display boards for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018, which will allow Olympics broadcasts to be shown in 3D.
Cast Pro has successfully developed a receiver that can be wirelessly connected to a global smart operating system, such as Android, IOS, Windows, DLNA or WiDi. It has been credited with achieving high synchronization rates delivering wireless connection to any operating system in the display market. Director Jae-ho Lee said, “There is not much support available for manufacturing-based startups. The investment environment is not favorable, either. However, despite these situations, POSCO has made a systematic investment and supports looking in to the future, which has been a great encouragement for us.”
Directors of the selected startups introduce their business to investors and guests at the Idea Marketplace.
The Idea Marketplace is POSCO’s representative startup support program where POSCO invites business ideas to either directly plan collaborating with some of the competent startups, or connect them to outside investors. It is a place for investment promotion where the selected startups present their business plans to investors after having established their plans with the help of their professional mentors over the course of 10 weeks.
POSCO has nurtured 122 startups since 2011, and directly invested 8.5 billion won into 53 companies among them. The companies supported by POSCO have increased their sales by 69% to 34 billion won. This is in comparison to the 20.2 billion won in sales they had when they first received the investment.
POSCO has also made contributions to a key part of the creative economy, namely job creation, by creating 458 additional jobs. In addition, the company has attracted 35.8 billion won worth of investment from external sources to support these startups as they continue to grow.
We accept year-round applications from interested prospective entrepreneurs or startups. Visit http://www.poscoventure.co.kr/S91060/S91060010/en/index.do to apply for POSCO’s Idea Marketplace.