k-startup week COMEUP 2021

Sung woo Ahn is the Founder and CEO of Zigbang, Korea's no.1 proptech company. After completing his bachelor's degree in Statistics at Seoul National University, Ahn was responsible for project development and planning at NC Soft, which is one of the major game companies in the Korea. After obtaining the KICPA certificate, Ahn became a company audit consultant at Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers before joining BlueRun as Venture Capitalist. Based on his previous experiences, he started Korea's very first real estate platform Zigbang in 2010 to minimize information asymmetry in the real estate market and help its users find the right house easily. As the largest investment recipient in the real estate platform business, Zigbang aspires to provide a distinct experience by using state-of-the-art technology. In light of it, Zigbang developed a metaverse coworking tool 'Metapolis' and launched 'Ontact Partners' to put together everything that's related to housing such as moving, cleaning, home repairing, and interior design. Now, Zigbang has developed into a tech-friendly brand that brings changes to one's spatial experience. Sung woo Ahn is also serving as Chairman of Korea Proptech Forum and Co-chair of Korea Startup Forum to lead the growth of the Korean proptech industry and to foster a stronger startup ecosystem.

Yong Kim studied Industrial Design at KAIST and built his career at SK Communications, NCSOFT, and SK Planet. He joined Woowa Bros. as CPO years ago. He leads the overall development and operation of Woowa's products and had launched a new business 'Shopping Live' recently.

Jeong Rim Park received a BA and MA in Business Management at Seoul National University and began her career at Chase Bank’s Seoul Office. Later on, she served as Head of Asset Management at Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance. After joining KB Kookmin Bank, she managed the Wealth Management(WM) Department as Executive Director before moving to the Risk Management Department. Park was Vice President of KB Securities’ WM Department and is now serving as the President and CEO.

Sujin Lee founded Yanolja in 2005. In the midst of Yanolja’s stable growth, Lee announced ‘Re-start’ in 2015. Since then, Yanolja has expanded its business portfolio by providing a leisure booking service while adding major hotel brands and automated hotel solutions to its features. After launching its global service in 2018, Yanolja became the first Korean travel brand to earn unicorn status in the following year. Sujin Lee believes that Yanolja has its own DNA for transformation. By observing changes and leading the trend proactively, the company was able to achieve its consistent growth even in the toughest times. Thanks to its endless growth, Yanolja has become a super application that features global accommodation, leisure, transportation, and food/beverage booking services. Yanolja now features IoT, AI, and blockchain technology to secure its crown as the global No.1 cloud-based hospitality solution brand.

Kyungsun Chung has been a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at The Sylvan Group, an independent private investment management firm with an integrated ESG Impact Program since 2019. Prior to founding The Sylvan Group, Kyungsun Chung founded HG Initiative (HGI), an Impact investment company in Korea. Furthermore, Kyungsun was a Founder and CEO of Root Impact, a non-profit entity focused on building and developing the social innovation sectors and an impact ecosystem. Kyungsun is a frequent speaker on philanthropy and social innovation throughout Asia, and also a board member of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

Julia Park is Head of Channel Innovation at LINA Korea. As Head of Channel Innovation, Julia Park is responsible for developing innovative ways of interacting with customers to address their health needs. Before joining LINA Korea, she was the Director of Strategy and Business Development for Cigna International Market. LINA Korea is a subsidiary of Cigna group focusing on protection and health insurance products and services.

Jonghoon Lee, the Managing Director and CIO, is in charge of investment at Lotte Ventures, a corporate venture capital (CVC) that serves as Lotte Group's Open Innovation Hub. He has about 15 years of venture capital investment experience including a venture capitalist and a full-time professorship at Kookmin University's Graduate School of Entrepreneurship.

Tae-Hee Lim, CEO of IGIS Investment Partners, formerly was in charge of Financial Management, M&A, IPO, and Corporate Investment at IGIS Asset Management. He specializes in investment in the prop-tech sector. After graduating from KAIST with an Industrial Management degree, Mr. Lim worked in the Data Marketing Team at LG U-Plus. After finishing his MBA at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, he mainly focused on corporate investment and cross-border M&A at Shinhan Bank and Shinhan Financial Group(Holding Co.). Afterward, he was in charge of the M&A Team at CJ Olive Networks and LG Chemicals where he managed M&As for the beauty, retail, chemical sector, and more. With his experience in various fields, he looks into investing in companies that fuse different types of businesses.

Jaeho Choi founded Drama & Company in 2013 and has been operating Korea's No.1 business platform 'Remember' ever since. Prior to founding the company, he had worked at Boston Consulting Group and Deloitte Consulting as a Management Consultant.

Jeungbin Kim was an adjunct professor at the Department of Future Convergence Management at Myongji University and served as the CEO of Kosteel before starting SuperBin. He founded SuperBin with the aim of proposing a new business model for a circular economy using robotics and design. Kim received a presidential citation for his contribution to sustainable economic growth. He also studied at Harvard Kennedy School for a master's degree in Public Administration.

Youngmin Park is the Co-Founder and CEO of Rokya, an ag-tech startup that aims to shift the agriculture value chain across the board from seed, harvesting, processing, logistics, and data analysis. Rokya has completed the sustainable value chain by enhancing the stability of the provision cycle for producers while providing customers with quality agricultural resources. Park established ‘Farmair’ in 2017 and launched a market price forecast system that analyzes an extensive amount of data. A number of major food companies are currently using ‘Farmair’ to make efficient purchasing decisions.

Euiseok Wi is an IT expert with years of experience in Software Engineering. He completed his degree at KAIST in Computer Science in 1990 and has been working with Information Technology Startup companies ever since. In 1994, Wi successfully kickstarted his first Internet startup iNet Inc. with his college classmates and sold it to PSInet Inc., USA. He developed a search ad platform at NAVER in 2006 to promote a business platform for enterprises, followed by the launch of several different services at SK Telecom including T-call. Wi started Cenaclesoft Inc. in 2018 in the belief that prospective software engineers and healthcare providers can bring about positive changes. At the moment, he is working his ways to establish daily connections between healthcare providers and customers via brand-new Cloud EMR Service.

Luther Sangheon Lee built his career at a Canadian AI startup before starting Voithru in Korea. Lee started Voithru in hopes of providing educational solutions for the hearing impaired by using AI voice recognition technology. Through years of business model shifts and expansion, he is now focusing on assisting global outreach and localization of K-culture content.

Seongwon Lee is the Co-Founder of 'G-School', an innovative future education institute established in February 2017, where he served as the Headteacher until 2019. In 2020, he founded the non-profit corporation ‘Education Lab 21’ and has been in charge as CEO while managing the overall operation of 'G-School'. Before establishing 'G-School', he built his career in public education for 26 years. While serving as a chief instructor in middle and high schools, he focused on reforming the school system through class renovation. Currently, he is shaping the general solution for the future education scene by developing a modern curriculum for teenagers and their essential competencies.

Jake Yongjae Lee co-founded Mathpresso with his high school friend and Co-CEO Ray Jongheun Lee while attending Seoul National University as an electrical engineering student. Founded with a mission to provide the most effective education for all, Mathpresso operates QANDA, an AI-based learning app that allows students of all levels to receive instant answers and customized learning content. QANDA has over 10 million monthly active users in more than 50 countries and is used by two-thirds of all 1st-12th graders in Korea. Since 2015, Mathpresso has raised $105 million in total and has regional offices in Tokyo, Hanoi, Jakarta, and Bangkok. In 2020, Lee was named to Forbes '30 Under 30 Asia.’