Visit by EO Japan
The Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation (GCCEI) announced on March 16 that 10 CEOs of Japanese companies visited the center and had meetings with five GCCEI-incubated startups to discuss investments and possibilities of incubation.
The Japanese companies are members of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Japan, a non-profit organization (NPO) that 213 Japanese representative companies and 11,000 CEOs from around the world join. The total annual gross sales of EO Japan members amount to approximately US$63.7 billion.
EO Japan is known to have a keen interest in the 570 Korean startups in the process of incubation by 18 Centers of Creative Economy and Innovation nationwide. The GCCEI gave the Japanese visitors a presentation about its roles and functions and discussed with them how to cooperate for networking with and investment in Korean startups. In particular, the CEOs from Japan had a 30-minute face-to-face talk with each Korean startup housed in the GCCEI.
The participant startups in the talks were five companies, including Nexsys, a startup which develops a helpware using smart helmet for those workers in a harsh working environment, 12CM, which develops a smart stamp “Echoss Stamp” for smartphones, Ripplebuds, which develops earphones with a built-in microphone, UASafe, which develops an ultra-low light camera, and WiseWells, which develops beacon.
The 10 CEOs visited the GCCEI as representatives of EO Japan with aims not only to locate Korean innovative startups for investment in them and their incubation in Japan, but also to have a good network to find other Korean potential startups. It was the first time for Japanese CEOs to visit the GCCEI with a purpose of investment.
David Sehyeon Baek, chief of PR team at the GCCEI said, “It is well known to Japanese CEOs that some 570 Korean startups are in the process of incubation in the 18 creative economy and innovation centers nationwide in Korea. I believe their visit this time can be a good starting point for the Korea startups to make inroads into the Japanese market.
Lim Deok-rae, head of the GCCEI, said, “Many startups housed in the GCCEI want to enter Japanese markets such as fintech, mobile games and IoT. We hope the EO Japan visit this time be helpful and useful to our startups by providing a good chance for establishing networks with EO Japan.”