CES 2024 Startups from Hyundai Motor's accelerator program shine at tech fair

People visit a booth to ZER01NE, a startup accelerator program of Hyundai Motor Group, during this year's CES tech show in Las Vegas, Wednesday (local time). Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group

 

LAS VEGAS — A group of 11 startups from Hyundai Motor Group’s ZER01NE accelerator program have made appearances at the CES 2024 IT exhibition, drawing interest from visitors looking for innovative and creative tech firms with huge growth potential.

They have sought business opportunities with potential clients here and abroad by showcasing their state-of-the-art technologies. Four of them spun off from the program after generating decent business outcomes. Hyundai Motor Group is supporting promising startups via the program, aiming to raise their global profile and help them create more investment opportunities abroad.

ZER01NE invests in the group's executives and employees with creative business ideas. A total of 36 in-house startups have spun off so far. Under the program, the group has teamed up with 128 startups, and the company is also making equity investments in 97 companies.

Four startups have received particularly favorable responses during the world’s most influential tech fair.

Mobinn, a robotics startup, operates a last-mile delivery service with its robot which can go up and down stairs and move around during day and night. Its specially designed wheel system and sensors enable the robot to complete deliveries efficiently.

The robot’s structure is simple enough for customers to maintain, according to the company.

Mobinn’s M3 delivery robot is now in operation at resorts and apartment complexes.

Poen was established in 2018 as an in-house startup and spun off from the automotive group the following year. The company engages in a battery pack reproduction service. It has expertise in reassembling battery packs for reuse in electric vehicles. The remanufactured battery is of good quality on par with a new one, but its price is much cheaper.

Green Whale Global, a bioplastic polymers manufacturer, was also nurtured by Hyundai Motor Group, after the startup attracted a fund from ZER01NE in 2021 due to its eco-friendly biotechnology.

Pebblous, a startup offering a data quality control service, has also appeared at CES 2024, promoting its solutions for data quality checks in an era of artificial intelligence (AI). Two researchers with expertise in AI, computer graphics and robotics co-founded the company in November 2021 amid growing demand for improving the quality of data. It also attracted a fund from the accelerator program of Hyundai Motor Group in April 2022.

“The startups from ZER01NE will be able to gain more opportunities for their global expansion after promoting their innovative technologies at CES 2024,” an official from ZER01NE said.