GREENWHALE GLOBAL (CEO Tae-kyun Yoon) participated in the Korea-U.S. Startup Summit, which was held from Sept 20th(Tues) to the 21st(Wed, local time) in Pier 17 in New York, USA.
In our everyday lives, the hours we spend using plastic products is limited to a few minutes to a few hours, but the effect they have on the environment lasts for hundreds of hears. In contrast, the rate of plastic recycling in the world is under 9%. Even if recycled, they are ultimately discarded, which prevents recycling from being a solution for the fundamental problem. Green Whale Global was established to search for a fundamental solution for this problem with plastics.
GREENWHALE GLOBAL’s biodegradable resin has very versatile properties which enable it to be used to create soft and flexible products like plastic bags, as well as rigid products like cosmetic containers. It is also heat-resistant and anti-bacterial. It can be adjusted to fit various plastic molding methods and to have various properties to fit each product and possesses very similar properties to existing plastics.
Existing plastic product manufacturers can switch over without the need for additional investments of machines or equipment, and GREENWHALE GLOBAL emphasized that this know-how is the core technology.
With this base, it possesses patents in the U.S. and Korea, and has applied to the PCT for patents in 12 countries, including China, Japan, Europe, South Africa, Africa (Francophone region), Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, and New Zealand.
A spokesman for GREENWHALE GLOBAL said, “We propose our company’s solution to global conglomerates and product manufacturers to solve the issue of plastics. Product manufacturers and brands that use existing plastics but need an economical, durable, versatile, and useful yet eco-friendly and new biodegradable materials, or brands that seek to have an environmentally friendly company image are our company’s business targets.”
They then went on to say, “We have received investments from Hyundai Motors last year, and the total investments and aid we’ve received so far amount to 10 billion KRW. We are scheduled to receive an additional 1 billion KRW by the end of this year. The sales of the start of the year were 1 billion KRW, and we expect our total sales by the end of the year to be around 4~5 billion KRW. We expect it to reach over 20 billion KRW next year.”
On the other hand, the Korea-U.S.STARTUP SUMMIT hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups(Minister Young Lee) and supervised by the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development(Director Yongmoon Kim) and Korea Venture Investment is providing scene of network between South Korean startups and global companies, VC and startups from New York with the nickname Silicon Alley where ecosystem and IT industry are well-developed. Through this event, they are seeking new business models of K-startups and advances into the global market, and promotes domestic investment of global capital. During the event, a corporate PR booth (joint pavilion between large corporation-startup) was set up, and U.S. VC and investment attraction IR, AC, Tech Media, and meetups and seminars were held with companies succeeded to enter the U.S. market.
