Winners of K-STARTUP Demo Day at Slush 2022

AimbeLab, Next Meta, and Coconut Silo emerged as the top contenders in the competitive startup competition, showcasing their unique and innovative solutions to judges and investors.

The three winners of the K-STARTUP Demo Day at SLUSH 2022 have announced plans to expand their businesses into the European market.

StartupReporter sat down with the three winners of the K-STARTUP Demo Day at SLUSH 2022 to discuss their experiences at the conference, the significance of their award, and their plans for the future.

AimbeLab, Next Meta, and Coconut Silo shared their thoughts on what makes Slush a unique and valuable event for startups and how winning the award have boosted their visibility and credibility in the global startup community.

They also shared their vision for the future of their startups and their ambitious plans to expand into the European market.

Next Meta – incorporating cognitive skills with meta technology.

Nextmeta provides an interactive, mobile-first, personalized learning experience. They convert traditional 40-60 min-long education videos into a series of short-form interactive content using their dynamic learning modules.

Teachers use the mobile interactive contents builder to create a lesson, and students then learn actively using an app, together with a metaverse campus with avatars. Then Nextmedia recommends the best learning type tailored for each student’s cognitive learning habits.

StartupReporter: – Why you decided to participate in Slush 2022?

Jinkyo Choi (CEO, Next Meta): – We launched our MVP two weeks ago before I could explore the European ecosystem. Finland was one of my dream destinations, and they have a unique way of teaching. Here I can meet educators and educational organizations to explore better to improve the Next Meta.

StartupReporter: – You are one of the three winners of the K-Startup Demo day, where 20 startups participated. What does it mean for you and Next Meta?

Jinkyo Choi: – I was honoured to receive it. Also, I need to work more on promoting Next Meta to other countries.

StartupReporter: – What are the next steps for Next Meta?

Jinkyo Choi: – Right now, we focus on acquiring customers – educational organizations and universities that share enthusiasm towards the transformation of learning.

Coconut Silo – an AI deep tech company from Hyundai.

Coconut Silo – an AI digital logistics platform. They accelerate the logistics value chain via the advanced freight logistics platform CocoTruck, which connects all types of players in the logistics market into a single place.

Coconut Silo enriches the ecosystem by providing a SaaS platform for B2B users to manage their resources easier and to become a greener company.

StartupReporter: – Why you decided to participate in Slush 2022?

Taewon Han (COO, Coconut Silo): – Slush is one of the biggest startup networking events worldwide, and Coconut Silo is not present yet in Europe. We wanted to find partners and investors in Europe who could help us expand our solution in Europe.

StartupReporter: – You are one of the three winners of the K-Startup Demo day, where 20 startups participated. What does it mean for you and Coconut Silo?

Taewon Han: – 20 startups were short-listed before through the competitive selection; they are already certified as the strongest startups. Among these startups, it is an honour to be selected as one of the top three.

StartupReporter: – What are the next steps for Coconut Silo?

Taewon Han: – Europe is the next target market; we did all necessary analysis to be ready to launch in Europe next year.

StartupReporter: – Tell us more about Coconut Silo team and how it started.

Taewon Han: – Our team is big: 42 people in South Korea, 12 in Vietnam, and the new team of 8 people in Laos. We started this business through the program at Hyundai, where employees are selected by their innovative idea to be supported through the incubator to spin off them.

StartupReporter: – How are you going to remember about Slush?

Taewon Han: – Energy, easy connections and deep talks.

AimbeLAB – feed the world.

Aimbelab provides a comprehensive livestock feed management data solution called “Myfeed”. Based on their AI feed measuring IoT device, feed monitoring smartphone application and web ERP, their solution enhances the feed monitoring, managing, ordering, logistics, inventory, delivery, and data utilization processes for livestock farms and feed companies.

StartupReporter: – Why you decided to participate in Slush 2022?

Sein Kwon (AimbeLab Director): – European market is one of our biggest markets. Here we are to find VC and startups from the livestock industry for cooperation.

StartupReporter: – What are the next steps for AimbeLab?

Sein Kwon: – As we are a data platform, our goal is to be involved in the whole value chain in the livestock industry. To make that happen, we need to have our infrastructure to be feasible. We started with an animal feed, with our IoT device and ERP platform, to establish the infrastructure.

Constantly we collect the live feed data and link the feed data with the livestock data to enhance the quality of livestock, meat and dairy and lower the greenhouse gas from livestock.

StartupReporter: – You are one of the three winners of the K-Startup Demo day, where 20 startups participated. What does it mean for you?

Sein Kwon: – To be honest, I did not expect it. It is a great honour to be selected. It is another boost to support us to have a partnership opportunity with European businesses.

Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development (KISED) prepared the 20 selected startups for the European tech event.

StartupReporter: – Tell us more about KISED.

Hyo-Jeong Kim: – KISED helps Korean startups fundraise, develop a product, and find mentors and partnership partners. The reasons for our work are based on improving the life of startups outside of South Korea.

StartupReporter: – What do you think about Slush 2022, and how is the engagement between Korean startups and other participants?

Hyo-Jeong Kim: – We brought 20 Korean startups into Slush. Overall, the meetings were very successful, and we received a lot of positive feedback from the Korean startups and the investors they met. The Korean startups were able to showcase their innovative products and services, and the investors were interested in learning more about the potential for collaboration and investment in the next months after Slush.

StartupReporter: – What are the next steps for KISED?

Hyo-Jeong Kim: – The main goal for KISED is to help K-startups to become pioneers outside of the Korean market. The next steps for KISED are to continue to support and promote Korean startups on a global scale through events such as Skush, and CES.

StartupReporter: – What motivates you to do this job?

Hyo-Jeong Kim: – The main motivation to see how much Korean startups achieved at such events. Seeing these startups’ success and growth is incredibly rewarding, and I am committed to providing the support and resources they need to thrive.