The ‘2023 Innovation Forest Awards and Pitching’, which recognises startups that have shown remarkable growth through innovative endeavours and challenges throughout the year, was held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza on the 10th.

The 2023 Innovation Forest Awards and Pitching, the main event of the startup festival COMEUP 2023, was held for the second time since its inception in 2022 to support the development of the startup ecosystem and entrepreneurs.

The Innovation Forest Awards and Pitching recognises early-stage startups that have shown remarkable growth based on real data that can demonstrate business growth, such as the number of active users, consumer transactions and employment, as well as qualitative judgments such as company reputation and market trends.

There were six award categories: Balanced Growth Award, Challenging Growth Award, Future Growth Award, Harmonious Growth Award, Creative Growth Award and Innovative Growth Award, with partners such as LG UPlus, Channel Corporation, Bespin Global, Focusmedia Korea, Sejong Centre for Creative Economy & Innovation and Naver Cloud participating in each category, offering a total of over USD 75.7 thousand (KRW 100 million) in prizes.

The final winners were Jente, Carpenstreet, Kihya, Stibee, SCALAR DATA and JEJEMEME.

Joo-eun Son, CEO of Megastudy, who founded the Yoonmin Foundation to nurture creative talent and support innovative start-ups, attended the event. “We help young people who are pure and passionate to start their own businesses as a way to repay our debt,” Son said. “It is the role of senior founders to do their duty to help future generations face a more creative future, and we hope that the Innovation Forest Awards and Pitching will continue to develop into an award ceremony that will inspire many startups in the future.”

Jaehong Kim, CEO of Channel Corporation, a new partner of the Innovation Forest Awards and Pitching, said, “We agreed to participate in the Innovation Forest Awards and Pitching because of its meaningful purpose, and we are happy to have the opportunity to directly support startups.” “As a senior founder, I will actively plan activities to contribute to the startup ecosystem as a whole.”

“The Innovation Forest Awards and Pitching was started with the desire to provide enthusiastic support and encouragement to all startups who are working hard to grow and stay true to their business,” said Kyung-Pyo Hong, CEO of Mark&Company, the organiser of the Innovation Forest Awards and Pitching. “We will make the Innovation Forest Awards and Pitching, which should be the Oscars of the startup ecosystem, a major event.”