“After attending the Korea Conference last year, our sales increased 12 times. It was a turning point in realizing our dream.”
At the 2024 Korea Conference, held on the Fanta Sea yacht at Marina del Rey in Los Angeles on August 23, Mind AI CEO Paul Lee explained that the company is realizing the vision it introduced at the event a year ago.
Mind AI aims to develop the most human-like artificial general intelligence (AGI). At last year’s Korea Conference, Mind AI met and secured investment from Plug and Play, one of Silicon Valley’s most active venture capitalists.
Just as Lee did a year ago, five promising startups were introduced at the Korea Conference. ASleep, Mvitro, Contents Technologies, The2H, and OurBox showcased their cutting-edge technologies to investors.
To support their dreams, the yacht was staffed with talent from around the world. Jeffrey Godsick of Sony Entertainment, Tom Lawrence, Chairman of The Eden Club, an exclusive group of the world’s top billionaires, Michael Riadi, an advisor to Indonesia’s national corporation, Lippo Group, and Mark Kelson, Chairman of the U.S. West Region of the multinational law firm Greenberg Traurig. Also in attendance from South Korea were Chairman Ilho Kim of Ocon, founder of Pororo; CEO Seungkyu Lee, founder of Baby Shark Pinkfong; Jungyong Lee, CEO of Gana Art gallery; and Jinhyuk Jeong, CEO of Centroid Investment Partners, which acquired TaylorMade, the world’s third largest golf brand. In total, 140 attendees, including Consul General Youngwan Kim and Korean American Chamber of Commerce LA president Dongwan Chong attended the event.
The Korea Conference aims to create a bridgehead for innovative Korean startups entering the U.S. market. Jenny Chu, the head of development at Boar’s Club, a family office that manages the assets of the world’s richest 1% of families, founded the nonprofit of the same name and is organizing the event for the third time this year.
Of the five companies that pitched on the day, ASleep won the Best Presentation Award. The company drew attention to its AI solution that enables precise sleep analysis using the microphone of a smartphone, without having to wear a device. The company’s CEO, Dongheon Lee, was recognized as the only Korean to be included in Forbes’ “30 Under 30 Leaders” in the Asia-Pacific region last year.
“The U.S. is the world’s largest country in terms of concern for quality sleep,” said Lee. “The Korea Conference is the real starting point for ASleep. Thanks to the Korea Conference, we can now enter the bigger market.”
Mvitro, which introduced a needle-free and painless laser blood glucose meter, also attracted attention. “We have been researching for seven years based on the experience that the biggest enemy of diabetes is the needle while watching the hardships of my mother who suffered from diabetes for a long time,” said Youngwoo Lee, CEO of Mvitro, “and we expect to get FDA approval within this year.”
The2H is developing an immersive experience game called Dracul. It’s $150 million in development, and Sony is in talks with the company.
The cutting-edge technologies of the participating startups were well-received by the attendees. “This is my third year attending the event. Every year I am amazed by the energy of innovation,” said LA Consul General Kim.
“The answer to growth is interplay,” said Anthony Kim of the Heritage Foundation, “not just simple addition and subtraction, but multiplication with the technology of good ideas and the gathering of investors and partners.”
“All five companies were on our radar because of their technical capabilities,” said Kangmin Shin, Managing Director at Centroid Investment Partners.
The event has exploded in growth in three years with cutting-edge technologies since the 2022 launch. “We have raised $27 million in funding to date and are currently in talks with 15 global pharmaceutical companies,” said Wonyong Lee, CEO of ShiftBio, a developer of treatments for rare and incurable diseases.
The biggest achievement of this year’s event and the organization is the Korea Conference’s mentoring club, MDR. Named after Marina del Rey where the event is held, the group brings together companies that participated in the previous year’s event to share what they’ve accomplished with this year’s attendees.
“All the young people in the startup world who attend thank me, but I’m actually learning more from them,” said Jenny Chu, Chairperson of the Korea Conference. ”I am living a second life through their dreams. That’s a value that’s hard to put a price on.”
BY WONHEE CHO, HOONSIK WOO [cho.wonhee@koreadaily.com]
