KTO’s Korean Startup Showcase 2022 Singapore participants present their businesses to Golden Gate Ventures’ Jeffrey Paine

Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) ‘s ‘Korean Startup Showcase 2022 Singapore’ third day hosted a session with Jeffrey Paine, Founding Partner of Golden Gate Ventures. The participating Korean startups presented their pitches and had an interactive session with Paine regarding various aspects of business and investment at the Gunderson Dettmer Singapore LLP Office.

The four-day program from October 24-28, 2022, has 7 Korean travel startups showcasing their products and services to potential global investors and VCs in Singapore. The program conducted by KTO is organized by CNT Tech and co-hosted by Cuvee April.

Golden Gate Ventures is a venture capital fund in Southeast Asia (SEA) founded by Silicon Valley natives. Since 2011, the firm has launched four funds, managed US$250M AUM, and invested in 60+ companies. Jeffrey Paine, the founding partner, is one of Asia’s most active and respected startup ecosystem leaders.

KTO Startup Showcase Singapore 2022 session with Golden Gate Ventures

Jeffrey has accelerated the development of the regional startup ecosystem with entrepreneurial experience from Silicon Valley, Dubai and Asia. He invests in early-stage technology companies in Southeast Asia and the US with a particular interest in fintech, web3, consumer internet, mobile, consumption upgrade, commerce, marketplace & infrastructure surrounding them, transport, mobility, education, healthcare, adaptation to climate change, climate tech, b2b saas and media/content distribution platforms amongst others.

Gunderson Dettmer is a venture capital law firm serving emerging growth companies and investors in India and Southeast Asia for over 15 years. In 2016, it opened the Singapore office, the first of its kind, to support the growth in venture activity in the region.

The Korean startups that are part of the are WeAreFriends Co., ltd., an online world travel app developer; Seoul Unniedeul, a K-beauty content platform; Gleam Media Group INC, a K-Pop fan platform; Enkorwithus: a residential service for foreigners visiting Korea; Wmclub, a service that matches functional shoes and insoles; Globaleur, an AI-driven itinerary recommendation and optimization engine; VEStellaLab, a navigation app for parking space.

Jeffery Paine asked the startups various questions regarding their business models and pitches as each company presented detailed drafts of their services and products. Jeffery asked about revenue models, target audience, market expansion, market strategy, technology innovation, expectations from investors, future projections, current partnerships and clients, etc. “The Korean story is fine, the expansion is important, but the reality of actually coming out is a different story,” Jeffery gave some valuable advice to startups while interacting with a participating founder regarding future aspirations.

The program in Singapore has mentoring sessions, VC meetings and a Demo day event for startups. The Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and KTO have set up a Korea Tourism Startup Center(KTSC) in Singapore in 2022 to help tourism startups create more opportunities in Singapore and Southeast Asia. Since 2011, KTO has accelerated more than 1,000 startups over the past 12 years. In the last three years, it has worked to develop startups into innovative tourism companies through a specialized program for global market expansion.

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