Jeong Ji-Seong (39), CEO of SOSLAB, a LiDAR technology specialist, has been having busy days lately. Last year, after being selected as an official partner in the LiDAR sensor category for the Nvidia autonomous driving and robotics software platform, the company also began supplying LiDAR to robot platforms developed by Hyundai Motor Group Robotics Lab.

SOSLAB was founded in 2016 by Jeong and three lab colleagues while he was pursuing a PhD at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST). LiDAR is a spatial information recognition sensor that uses lasers to detect surrounding objects and their distances, and it is a core device for autonomous driving. The SOSLAB product is a fixed unit capable of wide-angle measurement using only two chips and a lens, and SOSLAB was listed on KOSDAQ in 2024.

Jeong said, “It was a business that four engineering PhDs jumped into with no money, and we received a lot of help from startup accelerating (incubation, growth, and support) programs.”

The programs SOSLAB has taken part in include the Startup Promotion Agency’s ‘Private-Public Co-Discovery and Nurturing of Founders’ (TIPS), the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ ‘Youth Startup Academy’, and GIST’s ‘Korean-style I-Corps’, five in total. Jeong said, “In I-Corps, which allowed us to join startup programs together with American engineering graduate students and professors, we learned what is needed to commercialize technology” and added, “At that time, I thought, ‘Korea, too, will likely see a startup boom like the United States,’ and we confirmed the business potential of LiDAR.”

Lee Chi-Won (36), CEO of MediInTech Co., Ltd., also received practical training in finance, accounting, and labor affairs needed to run a company at the Youth Startup Academy. After graduating from Seoul National University, where he researched surgical robots, he developed core technologies for flexible endoscopes at the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) and took on the challenge of founding a startup.

A flexible endoscope is made of a soft, bendable material that allows insertion along the natural curves of the human body. However, all such devices are currently imported, and MediInTech is pursuing localization by developing, for the first time in Korea, an artificial intelligence (AI) based intelligent electronic endoscope.

Lee said, “As we received support from the Youth Startup Academy, the number of employees and the amount of investment attracted increased,” and added, “We received a lot of help, such as innovating product design through one-on-one expert coaching.” He continued, “Founders have many gaps to fill beyond technical expertise, so it is good to make active use of incubation programs,” and noted, “You can find relevant information by visiting ‘Startup Support Portal’ or ‘Enterprise Plaza’ and the ‘Pan-Ministry Integrated Research Support System’.”

Choi Ung (43), CEO of NotagKorea Co., Ltd., gained opportunities for business expansion not only through government bodies such as the Startup Promotion Agency and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, but also through private incubation programs. For example, through a startup accelerating program run by Lotte Ventures, the company was able to open a popup store at Lotte Avenue Jakarta in Indonesia and begin full-fledged entry into the local market. It later received investment from Lotte Ventures.

NotagKorea develops and operates NTMS, an AI-based export distribution solution, providing domestic brands seeking to enter the Southeast Asian market with one-stop services necessary for online commerce, including payment, delivery, customs clearance, exchanges, refunds, and advertising.

Choi said, “Going through the incubation process finally allowed us to understand startup growth and investment processes,” adding, “In the United States, the United Kingdom, and Southeast Asia, startup incubation programs are aimed at support and investment, whereas in Korea, they seem to have a strong concept of ‘certification’ that you must go through in order to receive fund investment later.”

He continued, “If you are planning to start a business, you should closely check whether the program you join aligns with your intended business goals,” and warned, “Otherwise, you may end up just attending events and finishing without learning anything.”