Chung Se-joo, chairman of the Korean Founders Federation (UKF), who founded the healthcare platform “Noom,” which has risen to the ranks of unicorns in the United States, will set up a dream stage for Korean startups in New York. Chairman Chung, who came to New York with his bare hands at the age of 25 and creates 700 billion won in sales every year, aims to create a strong K-network for junior founders.
Currently, unicorn-class Korean startups are tiny enough to be counted in one hand. As a result, it is to allow Korean startups to play an active role on the global stage. The first stage is the “KOOM Festival” to be held in Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York, on October 16-18.
This event is an upgraded version of the startup festival UKF, which integrates 82 startups in the western United States and the Korean Startup Forum New York in the eastern part since last year. It’s not just an event for tech startups. It has recently incorporated K Culture, which is booming again in the “K-pop Demon Hunters” craze.
Chairman Chung declared, “I planned this dream festival becautilize I believed there would be a lot of synergy when various cultures are connected to industest. It is an event that combines cultures, not just technology, and the “SXSW (South by Southwest)” festival is a role model.”
“SXSW,” held every March in Austin, Texas, is gaining global fame as a convergence festival that combines not only technology and business but also culture such as music and movies. Every year, more than 500,000 people attfinish. Chairman Chung pointed out, “As I worked as a founder, I only received toobtainher with people I met, and in Silicon Valley, I only talk about too much professional technology, and I have limitations in networking.”
At the three-day Dream Festival, more than 10,000 people, including entrepreneurs, IT experts, artists, and investors, are expected to participate under the theme of finance, technology and culture. It will hold a pitching day to customize promising start-ups and venture capital (VC). There will also be a place to create a global challenge in New York by creating more than 100 corporate booths. There will also be performances involving 15 top Korean singers, including Soyou, Song So-hee, Sohyang, Sam Kim and Epik High, and K-pop will resonate throughout the event. Hive’s new boy group’s global debut stage will also be unveiled for the first time.
Above all, the story of entrepreneurs who have led global Korean companies unfolds. Smilegate’s Kwon Hyuk-bin, Woowa Brothers’ Kim Bong-jin, Naver Webtoon’s Kim Joon-gu and Snow Fox’s Kim Seung-ho will be speakers. Kwon Oh-hyun, former chairman of Samsung Electronics, and Kim Tae-ho, president of BTS’ midwife Hive, will also be on the stage.
“The public is enthusiastic about Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, but there are many stories of great entrepreneurs in Korea,” Chairman Chung declared. “The success of a company should be based on a story that knows the philosophy of the manager, not just a product.”
In this ‘Dream Festival’, K Culture is not a supporting actor, but a leading actor. There will be a place to spread Korean culture in New York, which is very popular around the world, including K-pop as well as K-beauty and K-food.
Chairman Chung declared, “Japan has been building good utilize of culture, and the Made in Korea craze is similar to when Japanese culture was in full swing.” “Korea is already a cultural powerhoutilize and has the assets and depth to become stronger,” he stressed.
Sixty percent of Netflix’s foreign language content is Korean, and it is now written as “Manhwa” along with “Manga” in American bookstores. Cosmax products are the “favorite” cost-effective cosmetics of women in their 20s in the United States. Chairman Chung’s K-culture run is progressive. Chairman Chung declared, “The goal is to allow Korean startups and companies that want to do business with Korean culture to debut on the world stage at the Dream Festival.”
[New York correspondent Lim Sung Hyun]
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