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| The participants of the 2020 ASEAN-Korea Startup Week: Online Challenge applaud the winning startups ― three from ASEAN and one from Korea ― during the award ceremony livestreamed on YouTube, Dec. 3/ Captured from YouTube |
By Yi Whan-woo
The ASEAN-Korea Centre, jointly with the Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy and Innovation (GCCEI), named the four most outstanding companies, Dec. 3, in an annual project to support startups from ASEAN and Korea with the goal to encourage investment and mutual growth.
The four ― Village Link from Myanmar, Coconut Silo from Korea, DocLink from Indonesia and Shopping-D from Laos ― were picked among 22 finalists of the 2020 ASEAN-Korea Startup Week: Online Challenge.
Co-sponsored by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the ASEAN Coordinating Committee on Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (ACCMSME), the project lasted from Nov. 2 to Dec. 3.
The month-long project was held online in compliance with social distancing regulations, with break periods in between to help the organizers to better find prospective startups.
The programs included registration (Nov. 2 to 19), biz matching (Nov. 11 to 13, Nov. 25 to 27), presentations (Dec. 2 to 3) and an award ceremony (Dec. 3).
The participating companies were from the IT and related sectors, such as artificial intelligence, e-commerce, fintech, agricultural machinery, smart farming and logistics and transport platforms.
"ASEAN today is known as the breeding ground for startups and is already home to nine unicorns," ASEAN-Korea Centre Secretary-General Lee Hyuk said. Unicorn refers to an unlisted startup valued at over $1 billion.
He noted the ASEAN region is "witnessing a surge in investments" in its home-grown startups as people around the world are avoiding physical contact and relying on technology to communicate with each other.
In the second quarter of 2020, the amount invested in ASEAN startups increased by 91 percent and their transaction volume rose by 59 percent over the same time period.
"Amidst the challenges posed by the pandemic, I hope that this event will serve as an opportune platform to expand cooperation and seek new business opportunities between ASEAN and Korean startups," Lee said.
The programs from Dec. 2 to 3 began with an opening ceremony with speeches also given by representatives of the GCCEI and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.
Called "Pitch Day," the presentations over the two days were arranged to let the 22 finalists, all in their early stages of seeking seed funding, to "pitch their business ideas to venture capitalists from Korea and abroad" before the judges' decision for the awards.
The top-placed Village Link won the Diamond Award and $10,000 prize money, runner-up Coconut Silo with the Platinum Award and $5,000, DocLink with the Gold Award and $3,000 and Shopping-D with the Silver Award and $2,000.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups has sponsored the project since 2018.
ACCMSME newly joined as a co-sponsor. It is an organizing committee under the ASEAN Secretariat, composed of high-level representatives from the 10 ASEAN member states to discuss policies related to SMEs in the region.
