– 13 companies participated in TechCrunch Disrupt Korean Pavilion, the largest IT startup conference in North America –
– Prior to advancing into overseas markets, it is most important to conduct market research and determine the suitability of the company’s market –
Exhibition Overview
TechCrunch Disrupt 2021, North America's largest innovative technology startup exhibition, was held online for three days from September 9st to September 21rd, local time. Despite being held entirely online this year following last year in the aftermath of Corona 9, about 23 participants from 3 countries and about 19 startups and sponsor companies participated.
TechCrunch Disrupt consists of various programs such as lectures by celebrities, pitching contest (Battlefield), company booth exhibition (Startup Alley), and 1:1 networking. This year, in a lecture by prominent figures, government officials such as US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and US Securities and Exchange Commission San Francisco Office Chief Erin Schneider, Google, Samsung Next, SoftBank, Slack, Coinbase, Ford, etc. Founders and executives of large corporations, as well as actors Ryan Reynolds and comedian Seth Rogen, participated in the event. The main topics of the lecture were cryptocurrency, health and biotechnology, SPAC, and Creator Economy. In addition, there were startup pitching and investment attraction strategies.
This exhibition was held through Hopin, an online event platform, and the platform interface was largely divided into Disrupt Stage, where lectures by celebrities and pitching contests were held, and Extra Crunch Stage, where keynote speeches from VCs and investors were held. (Extra Crunch Stage), and a Breakout Session where you can see the pitching of companies exhibiting online booths, instant feedback from pitching experts of TechCrunch, and live pitching of participating companies in the national pavilion. In addition, through a function called CrunchMatch, participants arranged a consultation by connecting people they wanted to meet within the platform.
Korean Pavilion and Overseas National Pavilions Participated in TechCrunch Disrupt 2021
The Korea Pavilion of TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 was jointly hosted by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and the Korea Information Technology Research Institute (KITRI), and a total of 13 Korean companies from various IT industries participated.
TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 Korean Pavilion Participating Companies List
TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 Online Korean Pavilion
In this TechCrunch Disrupt, four national pavilions were operated: Korea, Taiwan, Belgium and Japan. Participating companies in each national pavilion were given time to pitch live in the breakout session, and in the live pitching session in the Korean pavilion, more than 4 spectators watched in real time and left questions and feedback in the chat window. The live pitching video of the Korean Pavilion can be viewed on the TechCrunch bulletin board.
While other national pavilions focused on the visual elements of pitching rather than the presentation content by recording the presenter's upper body visible, companies in the Korean pavilion paid more attention to the content and format that Silicon Valley investors valued. In particular, in the case of TAM SAM SOM market analysis, it is important for investors to determine the target market size of a company: Total Addressable Market (TAM), Serviceable Available Market (SAM), and Serviceable Obtainable Market; SOM), it is a data that can show the business strategy by identifying the market that can actually be occupied at the beginning of the business and the potential market that can be expanded after growth. In addition, the pitching video was produced using a video recording and sharing platform called Loom, which is often used in Silicon Valley.
TAM SAM SOM Graph
Through a joint program conducted in collaboration with an investment advisory firm located in San Francisco a month before the start of the exhibition, participating companies in the Korean Pavilion receive investment risk analysis consulting and feedback on pitching and pitching to present pitching tailored to the needs of Silicon Valley investors. there was.
TechCrunch Disrupt National Pavilion Participation Status
TechCrunch Disrupt's Flower, Startup Battlefield
Battlefield, which can be called the flower of TechCrunch Disrupt, is a pitching contest that selects 20 promising startups from around the world. From 2007 to March 2020, a total of 3 startups participated in Battlefield, received a total investment of $857 billion, and 90 companies acquired or went public, successfully exiting. Support for Battlefield is free, but support requires a public first public release of the product and little prior press exposure. The selection rate is very fierce at 115%, and a prize of 1.5 dollars is given to the startup that ranks first.
In this year's TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield, 20 startups from various fields, including agtech, female genetics and lifestyle-based therapy, cybersecurity, laser, and fintech, took part. received.
Through the first pitching round, 20 out of 5 startups advanced to the final round, and the final 5 companies selected by the judges at this year's Battlefield were Adventr, Cellino, Koa, Nth Cycle and Tatum. The five startups showed their product demonstrations vividly and effectively through live broadcasts, and answered the judges' sharp questions after pitching without hesitation. The judges asked the most questions about the company's business expansion and profit creation strategy, and also asked questions related to SWOT analysis, which analyzes the company's strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. .
TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 Battlefield Finals 5 Startups Selected
Cellino (left) and Nth Cycle (right) live product demonstration
In the final round, Cellino and Nth Cycle took the title and runner-up respectively.
Currently, stem cell processing used for rehabilitation treatment is performed manually by scientists who have undergone several years of training and experience to manually remove unnecessary parts of stem cells, and the yield is only about 10-20%. does not Cellino uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, and lasers to replace manual processes that require experts to cut costs and increase yield by up to 80%.
The Nth Cycle extracts important minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese during battery recycling and mineral mining through a process called electroextraction. The company's electrolytic extraction system requires a relatively very small footprint of about 1000 square feet (about 93 square meters) and can process about 5 tons of material per day.
The characteristic of the two companies that won and runner-up was that they explained their technology in an easy-to-understand manner even for non-experts, despite the fact that they were companies with strong expertise. In addition, it strongly appealed to the existing grievances in the target market and a suitable solution to solve them as the strength of the company.
implication
In an interview with KOTRA Silicon Valley Trade Center, Mr. K, an investor in a venture company P located in Silicon Valley, said, “There are many companies with promising technologies and ideas, but companies that accurately identify and target the market and are well aware of their market suitability are It is rare, and entering the market by trusting only technology can lead to many difficulties,” he said.
For domestic companies to advance into overseas markets, KOTRA provides market research services such as overseas expansion and certification consultation, global competency diagnosis and consulting, and the big data platform Trivik, which recommends promising markets and export items by HS Code. Start-up companies aiming to achieve this goal can be supported by participating in government-funded exhibitions such as TechCrunch Disrupt, and projects such as crowdfunding-linked innovative consumer goods overseas expansion support. More information can be found on the KOTRA website (www.kotra.or.kr) or the KOTRA service guidebook.
Source: TechCrunch official website, TechCrunch online exhibition platform, KOTRA Silicon Valley Trade Center