SGSC 2021 Global Bootcamp; Korean startups get insight to global market

The final pitch day of Seoul Global Startup Center (SGSC) 2021 Global Bootcamp saw six Korean startups present their product and services to some leading mentors, investors, venture capitalists, industry experts, successful startup founders, startup growth specialists, and tech advisors.

SGSC 2021 Global Bootcamp had been virtually organized by SGSC and beSUCCESS Media group from June 7th to 18th, which finished on June 24th with a grand pitch day session. Seven Korean startups participated in the Bootcamp, and six of them presented their IR decks and answered judges’ questions on the final pitch day. The event was created to help enterprising Korean startups connect with accelerators, mentors, businesses, etc., to support them to venture into the overseas market.

For the final presentation, each startup got 5 minutes of pitch time followed by 5 minutes of feedback and questions from the judges. The startups were questioned about IT infrastructure, competition strategy, cost leverage, cybersecurity, partnerships, buyers, inventory sales, business scale, long-term vision, price strategy, etc. The judges also gave valuable insights to startups on their pitches, including more graphs, numbers, informatics, user experiences, details about the operating environment and risks, challenges in the crowded global market, and issues & possibilities.

The judges and mentors, who led the final day pitch were:

2021 SGSC Global Bootcamp final day held virtually with startup founders and mentors, investors.

The seven startups that participated in the Bootcamp were

Apollo EduTech provides coding education through unplugged educational gaming.
BeAptive,which has designed the first-ever social media app for kids.
Kaesa, a luxury fashion accessories startup that has adopted sustainable materials & processes
oneCharge,which has developed an AI and Computer Vision Smart EV Charging System
StyleupK, a fashion e-commerce startup
SDNetworks, a skincare & cosmetics products manufacturer & sales startup
Wcoding, a Korean startup, which offers coding boot camps & courses for everyone

The SGSC 2021 Global Bootcamp program was held for six days, spread over two weeks, in which the seven participating startups were mentored to better their global outreach. The session’s topics included Building Local Community, Branding/Marketing, Sales & Distribution, Team Building, Building an IR deck, and a Final IR Pitch. The seven startups were divided into two groups as per their expansion aspirations to the USA and Southeast Asia (SEA) markets.

“I really enjoyed speaking to all of the mentors. They were super helpful, supportive, and gave us a lot of great insight not only in the US market but in general. It was great hearing their stories and what they did to achieve success with their startups,” is what Rachel Chung of BeAptive shared regarding her experience at the Bootcamp. Steve Yang of Apollo EduTech has similar sentiments, “It was a really great experience for me and my team. We enjoyed all the discussions, especially with Travis. Good to have other successful founders/operators share their stories from a founder perspective.”

The Seoul Global Startup Center was founded in July 2016 with funding provided by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and is jointly operated by startup accelerator N15 and WeWorkLabs Korea. As part of the 2021 SGSC Global Bootcamp, the accelerator will support three startups each targeting the US and South East Asia markets.

beSUCCESS Media group, a leading global startup media company in South Korea, designed the accelerator program in partnership with SGSC. KoreaTechDesk did the media coverage for the 2021 SGSC Global Boot Camp.