On August 28th, the Asan Nanum Foundation’s third Jung Ju Young Startup Competition came to an end on its six-months competition course.

The contest sets out to find the next Jung Ju Young, the founder of Hyundai Group known for his contributions to the successful modernization of the South Korean construction, automobile, and ship building industry. The competition is also designed to encourage young startups to materialize their ideas into real business products. This year, the competition also adopted a new mentoring system, in which different mentors from related business help each of the eight finalist teams.

Of the finalists, the team Sound of Trip won first place, receiving $20,000 in reward. The team presented Anispoon, a home cooked meal-sharing platform between Korean hosts and foreign guests. Through this platform, hosts mark a price for the meals they provide according to how much time and money they have spent for cooking. Anispoon then marks the final price by adding a 20% commission fee.

“I was greatly inspired by the other eight final teams in the competition. I want everyone to become leading companies in whatever industry they are in, starting today” said Jae Hee Kwak, leader of ‘Sound of Trip,’ who also announced that the team has made its first sales on the same day.

Following their lead, Passion Factory (translated “Yeoljeong Factory”) took second place, while both Today Tomorrow (“Oneul Naeil”) and X_X won third place. Passion Factory is a news curation service based on big data analytics, Today Tomorrow a nighttime social network, while X_X is the developer of OhMyBeer, an imported beer recommendation app.

Jin Hong Jung, the chairman of Asan Nanum Foundation, congratulated the final teams on their achievement. “Competition is not all about winners and losers. It is also about discovering yourself. I wish this competition gave all teams a chance to learn something new about themselves.”

Jae Sun Han, CTO of FuturePlay, who served as one of mentors during competition, expressed his positive outlook for these teams. “Whether their business ideas were good or bad, every team had potential to lead their businesses successfully. Regardless of the result, all eight teams who were at the final round are winners. I wish to meet them in the future again… not as a mentor, but as their investor.”

The winner of the competition will be eligible to receive support from the Jung Ju Young Angel Investment Company and have priority in consideration for a $100 million investment project from the foundation.

Source : Meal Sharing Platform ‘Sound of Trip’ Wins the 3rd Jung Ju Young Startup Competition