Spark Labs Korea, a Seoul-based seed-to-stage accelerator, held its 19th showcase day for its collection of companies on Thursday. Since SparkLabs launched its Accelerator Program in December 2012, the final demo will mark its tenth anniversary. In the year
The program has two cohorts a year — one starting in January and the other in June — Kim said, adding that the program is 16 weeks long.
SparkLabs accepts groups of 10 to 15 companies and invests up to $100,000 in each startup for 6% equity. Kim, the investment is made through a SAFE (simple agreement for future equity) or a share purchase agreement – the decision is made at the start.
During the program, SparkLabs provides financial support, mentorship and access to administrative and legal advisory support to startups. In addition, participating startups will have access to a co-working space, attend weekly classes, and have access to four to six mentors with expertise in various industries not only in South Korea, but also in regions around the world.
Spark Labs, a member of the Global Accelerator Network (GAN), has been using international best practices for acceleration since the beginning, Kim said. He added that his partners and advisors are all former entrepreneurs and have international business experience in both the US and Asia.
The accelerator also runs other government-backed programs such as TPS, a technology incubator program for startups in South Korea, and manages later-stage investment funds, Kim noted.
SparkLabs started in Korea to find and help local Korean startups at their seed stage and help them go global. Although most of them are in Korea, Kim said, the accelerator also attracts applicants from other countries looking to enter Korea or Asia.
When asked if SparkLabs Korea is a subsidiary of SparkLabs Group, Kim said it is not a group structure. Each accelerator entity, such as SparkLabs Korea, SparkLabs Taiwan and SparkLabs Cultiv8, is a separate entity with its own accelerator fund.
Kim said in an interview with TechCrunch that while the program will focus on early-stage seed startups, some teams will steer or change their business focus as they try to find product market fit (PMF).
“Not all teams end up with a bang on Test Day. Once the teams feel they want to focus on building their traction or PMF, they can choose to vote on demo day,” Kim said.
Here’s a list of the nine companies in SparkLabs’ most recent collection. The 19th batch will end on November 3rd with a showcase date.
- Vetflux: A telehealth veterinary platform that provides an artificial intelligence-based chatbot for veterinary clinics and pet owners. It offers two apps that connect veterinarians with their pet patients. The Vetflux app is for pet owners to get the latest information about pet care, the other, called Vetflux+, is for veterinarians to organize their work processes.
- AmondycareThe Amondycare app allows mental health therapists to manage their workflow and administrative tasks, from patient appointments to sales.
- CircleSocial app Kevin’s Club helps college students make the most of their college life outside of the library or dorm. According to YKring, users can form clubs or groups of people with similar interests to join activities to find out what’s going on in the community. YKring, which launched its service in January, claims to have over 2,500 users with $35,000 in sales as of October 2022. The monthly subscription fee is ~$20.
- DatabinThis startup develops a cooling system for data centers. Its service SmartBox allows temperature management.
- FasketFacet is a fast-paced grocery delivery startup in South Korea.
- in life: Guyvers uses IoT and AI to develop a refrigerator for dry meat. Users can dry beef at home by connecting Guyvers’ smart devices to the app to monitor temperature and humidity.
- Move: A 3D motion marketplace that allows users to access and purchase 3D motion data sources for use in the metaverse, games, movies, animation, and augmented reality.
- R-materialsThe R-Material platform, called the Hybrid-Generator System, allows the conversion of solar and wind energy sources.
- MyShop Cloud: An online-to-offline (O2O) platform that seeks to digitize the dried fish value chain from wholesale to retail markets. Dasiwoorida, a service that analyzes dried fish prices and transactions, recommends products to customers.
SparkLabs is currently open for applications for the 20th batch program till November 11. The accelerator will close the selection in December and start the 20th batch in January.
South Korea, which attracts the third largest amount of venture capital funds in Asia – about $6.45 billion a year – after China and India, currently has 16 Unicords.
