Ministry of SMEs and Startups

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Park Young-sun, hereinafter MSS) said that Korean startup ‘Fusion Biotechnology' and Singapore startup Zeemart won the championship in “ASEAN-Korea Startup IR Pitching,” which was attended by 20 startups from ASEAN and Korea.

“ASEAN-Korea Startup IR Pitching” is one of the main programs of the "ASEAN-ROK Startup Expo, ComeUp", which was held by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.

The IR pitching was held for two days from 25 to 26, and 10 companies participated in IR pitching to announce their business model each day. Mentors, consisting of unicorn companies and investors, selected winners based on the marketability and technology of the announced companies.

On the first day of the start-up IR pitching, 10 companies including Cambodia, Indonesia, Brunei, Laos, Malaysia start-ups and 5 Korean start-ups participated in the development. ‘Fusion Biotechnology' won the competition. This is a Korean startup that develops new bio medicine based on fusion proteins that can be applied to anticancer drugs and senior diseases.

‘Fusion Biotechnology' was founded in September 2018 by CEO Kim Chae-gyu, a professor of the Department of Natural Sciences, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST). He was named one of the 'Highly Cited Researcher (HCR)' in the world in 2018 announced by Clarivate Analytics, a US information analytics services firm.

The 2nd startup IR pitching held on the 26th was attended by 10 companies including Singapore, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam startups and 5 Korean startups. At the competition, Singarpore startup Zeemart won the competition.

Zeemart, winner of Day 2 of Startup IR Pitching, is a B & B platform company for Food & Beverage (F&B), providing a platform service that connects restaurants and food supply companies and performs order, payment and inventory management in one system.

Zeemart plans to find domestic partners such as domestic delivery platforms and food distributors that can collaborate with Zeemart with the participation of Korea-ASEAN startup IR pitching.

In particular, during the 2nd start-up IR pitching, Minister Park Young-sun encouraged the ASEAN-Korea startup that participated in the IR pitching.
Minister Park Young-sun said in a encouragement saying, "The protagonist of the 4th Industrial Revolution is a startup, and I hope that the exchange and cooperation between ASEAN startups will be expanded through the Korea-ASEAN Startup Partnership established through the special summit."

In addition to IR pitching winners, Cambodia's fintech company MoraKot Technology, and TEUIDA that develop a Korean conversation education application targeting Vietnam market participated in the competition.

For inquiries, please contact our spokesperson’s office at bizinfo1@korea.kr