FKI Picks 100 Startups From 474 Applicants for Mentoring Program

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* Editor's note: AI PRISM (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an AI-based personalized news recommendation and summary service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and delivers six news items tailored to each reader type.

■ Nurturing 100 Startups: The Federation of Korean Industries selected 100 innovative startup teams and held a kickoff meeting for its "Plus Startup" project. The program goes beyond one-off entrepreneurship training, linking participants to business partnerships with large companies and partner firms as well as to investment. Early-stage firms founded within the past seven years account for 70% of those selected.

■ Betting on Premium Fruit: Private equity firm Know & Partners invested an additional 20 billion won in H&B Asia, a premium fruit distributor. As demand grows for high-quality fruit even at higher prices, business models that secure intellectual property rights to new fruit varieties and then cultivate and distribute them domestically have emerged as investment targets.

■ Accelerating In-House AI Transition: SK Square (402340) is rolling out company-wide an internal work system in which AI agents automatically organize reports, emails and schedules. Its affiliate 11st is also building a catalog system that manages product information in a format AI can easily understand, aiming to transform itself from an open marketplace into an AI commerce platform.

[News of Interest to Startup Founders]

1. FKI to Nurture 100 Innovative Startups, With Large Companies Providing Partnerships and Investment

- Key summary: The Federation of Korean Industries on the 28th made its final selection of 100 teams for its "Plus Startup" project and held a kickoff meeting at FKI Tower in Seoul's Yeongdeungpo district. A total of 474 teams applied, a ratio of 4.7 to 1. Early-stage firms founded within the past seven years made up 70% of those selected, with the remaining 30% being prospective founders. By sector, information technology and software, including AI, led with 26 firms, followed by healthcare and biotech with 21 teams, manufacturing and materials with 17, finance and fintech with seven, and environment and energy with six. Youngone (111770), Amorepacific (090430), Hoban Construction, Poongsan (103140), KT (030200) and Danal (064260) will provide industry mentoring, help open sales channels and support investor relations pitching to venture capital firms. The program runs a 12-week incubation period and concludes with a results-sharing event in December this year.

2. Know & Partners Places Additional 20 Billion Won Bet on Premium Fruit Distributor

- Key summary: Private equity firm Know & Partners paid in 20 billion won to H&B Asia, a premium fruit distributor, raising its stake. The follow-on investment comes after the firm acquired about 17 billion won worth of existing shares from the majority shareholder in July last year to become a major shareholder. Founded in 2006, H&B Asia secures intellectual property rights to premium fruit varieties overseas and cultivates and distributes them in South Korea, supplying department stores, large discount chains and e-commerce channels with products such as Envy apples, a variety developed in New Zealand. With Lotte Mart's sales of high-sugar premium fruit up about 20% so far this year from the same period a year earlier, the company plans to expand its portfolio of new fruit variety IP to more than 10 and is also considering a medium- to long-term model of domestic production and overseas exports.

3. "Company Information Updates Automatically Through Data Hub 'Kiwi,' Sharply Improving Work Efficiency"

- Key summary: Kim Yong-hoon, head of AI innovation and chief AI officer at SK Square, outlined the company's AI transformation strategy in an interview with Seoul Economic Daily at SKT Tower in Seoul's Jung district on the 28th. SK Square has formed a task force of about 50 people called "10x," drawn from SK Square, 11st, SK Planet and TMAP Mobility, to run projects that break down boundaries between companies and departments. Its flagship result, the in-house knowledge data hub "Kiwi," uses AI to automatically update its knowledge base as new information comes in. "Office workers are said to spend more than 20% of their total working hours just searching for information, but Kiwi can significantly improve work efficiency," Kim said. 11st is building a catalog system that manages product information in a format AI can easily understand, setting a goal of becoming an operator suited to the era of agent commerce. SK Square is also preparing hyper-personalized services through its "Synapse" project, which integrates purchase data from 11st, movement and location data from TMAP Mobility, and OK Cashbag data from SK Planet.

[Reference News for Startup Founders]

4. SMEs Minister Lee So-young: "I Will Be a Deregulation Minister on the Side of the Field and Innovation"

- Key summary: Lee So-young, minister of SMEs and startups, said at her inauguration ceremony at the Government Complex Sejong on the 28th that "resolving polarization is precisely the work of this ministry." Lee said the rapid AI transition could either widen or narrow gaps, and stressed that small and medium-sized enterprises must participate as full-fledged actors from the design stage of national strategic industries and large projects. "Even if it means clashing with existing industries or practices, I will be a 'deregulation minister' who speaks up on the side of the field and innovation," she said, presenting a plan to quantify and manage the operating burdens on small business owners, such as rent, labor costs, interest and platform fees, as indicators. Lee also said she would build an ecosystem in which technology and ideas alone can attract investment and growth, and that the ministry would speak up for restoring the venture capital function of the capital markets.

5. More Personal Data Leaked at 29CM: 30,000 Additional Records From Partner Firms Confirmed

- Key summary: The scale of the personal data leak at 29CM, the fashion and lifestyle platform operated by Musinsa, turned out to be larger than the roughly 160,000 records initially reported. According to materials submitted to the office of Kim Hyung-yeon, a Rebuilding Korea Party lawmaker on the National Assembly's National Policy Committee, by the Personal Information Protection Commission, Musinsa filed additional leak reports on the 3rd and the 16th of this month following its initial report on the 28th of last month. The member order information reported on the 16th totaled 32,262 records. Of those, 32,159 included names, email addresses, mobile phone numbers, addresses, delivery notes and shipping information. The company also reported the additional leak of 3,999 consumer review records and 35,955 records on employees of partner firms. The Personal Information Protection Commission opened an investigation on the 8th and is requesting materials and conducting on-site inspections, and has not yet determined the final scale of the leak or its cause.

6. Starbucks Weighs Sale of Profitable Japan Unit: Giving Up Asia for North America?

- Key summary: Starbucks, the world's largest coffee brand, is pushing its "Back to Starbucks" strategy and focusing on cost cuts including the sale of overseas units. According to Reuters, Starbucks filed documents with regulators to close 250 underperforming stores in North America, equal to 1% of its roughly 18,000 stores in the region. Starbucks is also weighing the sale of a majority stake in its Japan unit, valued at about $3 billion (about 4 trillion won). That would follow the sale of its entire 50% stake in the Korean unit in 2021 and of a 60% stake in its China unit in April this year, part of a broader restructuring of its Asian business. Separately, according to the Financial Times, Starbucks plans to invest about $1 billion (about 1.3 trillion won) to remodel up to 9,000 company-operated stores in North America. Cost pressures have pushed its operating margin down to 12.9% from 15.8% in two years.

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