NIPA India opens its doors to South Korean startups with launch of ‘Lounge10’

Bengaluru-based Lounge 10 is a co-living and co-working facility for South Korean startups that will be part of the Korean ICT bootcamp in India.

South Korean National IT Industry Promotion Agency, better known as NIPA, is the largest and most comprehensive government agency part of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and it recently started another initiative to take startups from the country global.

NIPA inaugurated its new India office in Bengaluru and announced a three-month boot camp called ‘Lounge10’, or the K-ICT Boot Camp.

Lounge10 is a co-living and co-working space for South Korean startups looking to expand into the Indian market. The bootcamp will bring together ten startups from South Korea, incubate them, help them understand the Indian startup ecosystem and accelerate their entry into Indian and neighbouring markets. The programme will also have a calendar of events from speaker sessions to networking sessions and even an India tour.

NIPA India will support these startups by providing living and working space, sessions on differences in cultural and business environments, introduction to local business partners and potential mentors, advisors and investors.

HyonGeun Kim, Executive Director, NIPA said, “We are thrilled to be in India through NIPA and KIB INDIA with the ‘Lounge 10’ initiative. To be a part of the action on ground here in India, partnering with NASSCOM, bringing onboard eminent influencers like Vani Kola from Kalaari, K. Ganesh from Growth Story and Karthik Reddy from Blume Ventures, has made us feel more welcomed. Our initiative is to bring two startup ecosystems together to learn, share and grow with each other. We look forward to more exciting times and opportunities”

NIPA believes Bengaluru has a fast-growing economy, both online and offline, and offers the largest pool of IT engineers and is already seen as a global IT Hub. The favourable business environment in Karnataka only makes it more attractive for foreign companies and investments.  

As a part of the first bootcamp, the startups which are mostly in the seed stage, are focusing on ecommerce, IoT, digital content, FinTech and mobile services.

Below is the list of startups, the stage they are in, the sector and their area of expertise:

1. Adullam India - Seed - ecommerce - B2B shipping agency service.

2. Auur - Seed - ecommerce - Fashion, beauty information sharing service.

3. Jongro Medical - Series A - IoT - IoT devices to check ovulation cycles and male subfertility.

4. GoodWillHunting - Seed - Mobile Services - smartphone lock screen-enabled customer survey service

5. Tenqube - Series A - Mobile Services - Mobile app studio focused on utility apps

6. FourWheels - Series A - Mobile Services - Calendar app for shift workers such as nurses

7. Neo World - Seed - Digital Contents - Digital content studio focused on kids

8. RNA Analytics - Late Stage - FinTech - Actuarial software developer

9. MKent - Seed Digital Contents - Digital content studio focused on animation and webtoon

10. A B2B startup that brings Indian software and Blockchain solutions to the South Korean market. The startup is yet to be incorporated. 

Jihoon Kim, Founder and CEO of Jongro Medical said, "We are more than excited to be here in India and explore the market, which is larger and has more potential than we had expected. NIPA and Lounge10 has given us this opportunity to help expand to India through the program and we are happy to be part of the first batch"

Jongro Medical is an IoT based medical device company based in South Korea is starting to step into other markets, especially India. Its product called O’VIEW is a smart ovulation test which uses to test the ovulation date. It can be connected to one’s smartphone.

The KIB INDIA Lounge 10 programme is operated and executed by TKN Advisors, a Bengaluru-based, cross-border strategic advisor company catering to startups and VC/PE funds from East Asia.