At CES 2023, Korea had what seemed like the second-largest startup presence after the French contingent. There were an impressive number of Korean startups in different locations, and the K-Startup area was probably the busiest. We had a chance to visit it on Saturday, Jan 7, and were able to check almost all of them.
Ubergizmo was part of the K-Startup Global Media Awards jury, and our task was to select Ubergizmo’s Top 3 startups. Our scoring and those from other international media would determine the final Global Media Awards Top 3. In total, we had 46 startups competing for the top spot, and that was one of the most dynamic groups we’ve seen yet.
Myself (Hubert Nguyen) giving an award to SevenPointOne
We’ve been asked to use a scoring system based on four key metrics: marketability, global market potential, Investment potential, and competitiveness. The coefficients apply equally to all startups.
From our point of view, the top three K-Startup companies were SevenPointOne, Avalve, and Dongnam Realize Inc.
#1 SevenPointOne
You might remember that SevenPointOne was already a top nominee for MIK CES 2023, but it makes sense to find them here again since it has a product that could help everyone at some point in life.
SevenPointOne builds software that can detect early signs of dementia and cognitive impairments. This is one of the most underdiagnosed conditions in the US, and a massive number of people could have better living conditions if treated earlier. We expect this area to be extremely competitive, but SevenPointOne already has a product.
#2 Avalve
Avalve takes food production to the next level by providing software and sensors to indoor farmers who want to grow food perfectly using a constant data stream. The company can track and analyze individual plants to help farmers deliver optimum nutrition to individual crops.
By doing so, Avalve claims to double the crop’s yield while reducing labor by almost half. Avalve recommends using up to one camera per plant, which seems incredible. However, thanks to such sensors’ dwindling costs, it is cost-effective for specific crops. Avalve has an extensive plant database and continues acquiring more data into its cloud platform.
#3 Dongnam Realize Inc.
These are made using wood-based plastic replacement, using normal plastic molding machinery.
Dongnam Realize Inc. offers an exciting plastic replacement that uses wood, a simple carbon-neutral material available in abundance. By doing so, the company makes it convenient to use this replacement in various industries. This new material does not need new tooling and is delivered in the same pellet form as most plastics. As such, it’s a drop-in replacement for certain plastics.
We were surprised to learn that although the material is cleanly bio-degradable, it can remain in contact with water for extended periods, making it superior to many other organic replacements that cannot sustain such contact without degrading in days.
The best way to get rid of plastics is to find better materials, and Dongnam Realize Inc gets us one step closer to that goal.
Conclusion
We want to thank all the startups that took the time to prepare and deliver a pitch to our group of media jury. It was challenging to rank so many innovative products and companies, but ultimately, we were guided by our 17 years of experience covering CES.
Congratulations to the top three companies with the highest aggregated scores, and we wish them great success in the marketplace.
Filed in . Read more about CES, CES 2023, Innovation, Korea, Social Hit and Startups.