Commemorative photo | Photo provided by Gyeonggi-do Business & Science Accelerator
Gyeonggi-do and the Gyeonggi-do Business & Science Accelerator (GBSA) held the ‘2024 Shared Business Discovery & Development Program’ IR Demo Day on the 7th at the Pangyo Startup Campus.
The Shared Business Discovery & Development Program is in its seventh year and aims to nurture outstanding shared enterprises within Gyeonggi. The program offers investment education, mentoring, and demo day competitions to support these companies’ growth.
The event showcased the achievements of 10 shared enterprises from Gyeonggi-do, which had received systematic support from private accelerators over six months, beginning in April. The event aimed to provide investment opportunities and highlight their growth.
To maximize investment potential, several professional investment firms and accelerators, including CNTTech, POSCO Investment, Daesung Private Equity, and Hana Ventures, attended the ‘IR Demo Day.’
The ten participating companies included:
PIT IN Co., Ltd.
Townz Co., Ltd.
Jinsim Co., Ltd.
Dongsung Itec Co., Ltd.
RE&UP TECH Co., Ltd.
GOBOX Co., Ltd.
EGenAuto Co., Ltd.
OnJourney Co., Ltd.
BOXFUL Co., Ltd.
Gallery360 Co., Ltd.
As a result of the competition, PIT IN (CEO Sekwon Kim) was awarded the top prize for investment pitching, receiving 10 million KRW in commercialization support funds and a trophy from Gyeonggi Province.
PIT IN, a startup developing an electric vehicle battery-sharing platform for commercial use, presented a business model focused on battery replacement technology for various vehicle types, including taxis and freight. The company has raised 3 billion KRW this year and is building a circular economy value chain for EV batteries.
Townz (CEOs Yunjin Choi and Jongkyu Jung), which developed the ‘Towncar’ platform—a neighborhood car-sharing service—aims to solve transportation challenges for residents without cars or in areas lacking mobility options. The company successfully raised 2 billion KRW this year, achieving a cumulative investment total of 6 billion KRW.
Jinsim Co., Ltd. (CEO Jonghwan Min), which operates the idle camper van-sharing service ‘Bacar’ and was selected for the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund’s ‘Little Penguin program, received 1 billion KRW in guarantees over three years.
The Shared Business Discovery & Development Program achieved remarkable results this year, including 5 billion KRW in investment raised by two companies and 1 billion KRW in guarantees secured for one company.
Hong-gil Kim, Director of Social Economy Development at Gyeonggi-do, stated, “We plan to support shared enterprises to create simple business models and achieve sustainable growth alongside Gyeonggi-do through innovation and challenges. We aim to develop them into value-driven companies that realize social and economic success.”
Gyeonggi-do plans to continue supporting companies in realizing their vision and contributing to the growth of the shared economy and the realization of social value.
Additionally, GBSA will provide 1:1 matching and follow-up investment consultations for participating companies until November. This initiative aims to support the companies in securing practical investments and fostering sustainable growth.
Pangyo Techno Valley is a global integrated R&D hub focused on IT, BT, CT, and NT, integrating Research (R), People (P), Information (I), and Trade (T). As Gyeonggi-do’s representative innovation cluster, Pangyo Techno Valley was established to secure national new growth drivers such as technological innovation, human resource development, job creation, and enhancing international business competitiveness. As of 2023, 1,666 companies employ 78,751 people, and it has positioned itself as the most innovative hub in South Korea, with sales amounting to 167.7 trillion KRW (125.5 billion USD).
Furthermore, the Techno Valley Innovation Division of the Gyeonggi-do Business & Science Accelerator (GBSA) holds monthly events such as the Pangyo Evening Meet-Up, Pan-Pan Day, and the Pangyo Startup Investment Exchange “In-Best Pangyo” to maximize the value of Pangyo Techno Valley. They also support the Pangyo Overseas Promotion Program to publicize information about Pangyo’s companies, products, and services to domestic and foreign investors and the media, thereby facilitating foreign investment.
