Hankook & Company, the holding company of Hankook & Company Group (formerly Hankook Tire Group), and investment-focused accelerator CNT Tech announced their participation as partner organizations in the ‘Rocketship IR Contest’. The contest will be held as part of Korea’s representative startup support program ‘Initial Startup Package’.
CNT Tech has been carrying out various activities to support the new growth momentum of startups, and was selected for the startup support project, Initial Startup Package in February this year. The Initial Startup Package is a program in which the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) and the Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development (KISED) select universities, public and private institutions as leading organizations to support early-stage startups with promising ideas within 3 years of starting their business.
The 20 organizations leading the Initial Startup Package each select around 30 startups every year and provide up to KRW 100 million of commercialization funds, as well as startup infrastructure necessary for overall corporate growth, such as item verification, investment attraction, and market development.
Hankook & Company and CNT Tech have joined forces since 2021 through an open innovation investment association, discovering and investing in startups operating in the mobility aftermarket. As part of their partnership, Hankook & Company will support startups experiencing difficulties in investment and actively participate in revitalizing the Korean startup ecosystem along with CNT Tech, which was selected as one the of leading organizations of the 2023 Initial Startup Package.
As part of this effort, the company plans to operate the ‘Rocketship IR Contest’ as part of the Initial Startup Package. The ‘Rocketship IR Contest’ is an investment attraction program for a total of 50 early-stage startups, with 10 selected per month for 5 months. Two outstanding companies will be selected every month and given the opportunity to participate in a ‘demoday’ to give a presentation in front of investors. Hankook & Company plans to review investment and cooperation with participating companies, focusing on the field of mobility aftermarket.
CNT Tech is an accelerator company specializing in investment and has been actively supporting various early-stage startup markets by implementing partnerships with large corporations. The company has been working as a leading organization of the Initial Startup Package for four consecutive years, from 2020, and is striving to establish a channel to secure fund liquidity for early startups. In 2021, the company’s achievements were recognized, as it was ranked the No. 1 leading organization in the country in the performance evaluation.
Meanwhile, Hankook & Company is committed to fulfilling its social responsibilities and is carrying out various activities to contribute to the startup ecosystem through continuous investment. In 2021, the company formed a fund to discover new growth engines and selected ‘MOBILTECH’, an artificial intelligence (AI) geospatial information startup, as its first investment. The fund was established with the aim of preemptively discovering early-stage startups and fostering growing junior companies.
As a part of its commitment to the venture ecosystem, Hankook & Company has formed an open innovation investment association with CNT Tech to discover startups operating in the mobility aftermarket. Going forward, the company aims to the infrastructure and know-how of Hankook Tire, a key subsidiary of the group, with startups through investment associations, and play a role as a social corporation that contributes to the venture ecosystem.
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