- 881 startups applied for COMEUP Stars from 38 countries including USA·India·Indonesia·Hong Kong
- 70 finalists will be announced in early September after shortlisting and interview screening in August
Seoul, Aug 11, 2022 - Korea Startup Forum(KSF), the organizer of the Global Startup Festival ‘COMEUP 2022’ said the COMEUP Stars 2022 application has successfully ended with the highest competitive rate ever.
From July 4 to August 5, 881 startups from 38 countries applied to compete for the 70 finalist startups ‘COMEUP Stars,’ marking a 12.6:1 competitive rate. This is the highest number since the beginning of COMEUP excluding 2019 which was carried out on an invitational basis. In 2020 and 2021, the competitive rate was 9:1 and 10.9:1 respectively.
The competition is expected to be fiercer in Rookie League–for startups with less than $1M funding–which is looking for 30 finalists out of 682 companies, marking a 22.7:1 competitive rate. With an increased competitive rate of 4.9:1 from 3.3:1 in 2020, Rocket League–for startups with $1M-50M funding–is no exception from the competitive race toward the COMEUP Stars, seeing more than 199 applicants which will be reduced to 40 companies in September.
Out of all applicants, 765 startups(86%) are from South Korea while 116 startups(14%) are international. Some of the major countires are the USA(23 companies), India(12 companies), Indonesia·Hong Kong(10 companies), Singapore(7 companies), and Israel(6 companies). Applications from the UK, Swiss, France, Finland, UAE, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, Argentina, Mexico, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand were also visible, proving COMEUP’s global influence.
In terms of industry, software was the most popular field with 156 companies(17.7%), followed by healthcare·bio(131 companies, 14.9%), lifestyle(56 companies, 6.4%), education(48 companies, 5.4%), and commerce·shopping(48 companies, 5.4%).
KSF will go through a shortlisting and interview screening process throughout August to finalize the 70 startups on September 2. The list of 10 unicorns and soon-to-be unicorn companies for the Unicorn League will be disclosed the same day.
Sungjin Choi, CEO of KSF said “Thanks to numbers of outstanding startups from in and outside of Korea, COMEUP Stars was able to mark its highest competitive rate. We will make sure to carry out a fair and flawless selection process.”
COMEUP 2022 will take place at DDP Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Seoul from November 9 to 11 on an on-and-offline basis. With KSF’s expertise, COMEUP 2022 will provide an in-depth overview of the startup ecosystem.
COMEUP 2022 News Special Page