VEStellaLab Inc. (CEO Sang Su Jung) was awarded the ‘Korea Challenge Grand Prize’ at the ‘Try Everything 2022’ Global Startup Grand Festival held from the 21st (Wed.) of September to the 23rd (Fri.) at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP).
‘Try Everything’ is a global startup festival where members of the startup ecosystem such as promising startups, large and medium-sized companies, investors, and accelerators from all over the world come together. Seoul City has been hosting Try Everything in September every year since 2020 in order to revitalize the startup ecosystem.
At this event, competitions were held by combining excellent Venture Capitals (VC) in each category of the ‘Korea Challenge (Startup of 3~7 years)’ and the ‘National Startup Audition (Startup under 3 years)’.
VEStellaLab is company that services ‘Watchmile’, the indoor parking navigation. ‘Watchmile’ is characterized by being the world’s first to guide the route to the optimal parking space in the indoor parking lot, which is a GPS shaded area.
It is a startup that has V21 autonomous driving technology and recognized for its value in the indoor precision digital map production technology, AI image analysis technology, virtual GPS allocation technology, AIoT based positioning technology, optimal/shortest path algorithm, and customized algorithms for the socially disadvantaged; it is currently providing services to Seoul Station Parking Lot, Incheon International Airport, Cheonho Station Public Parking Lot, and KINTEX, as well as collaborating with major construction companies for various infra services.
‘Watchmile’ uses vision AI to identify parking availability and provides that to the user by using the optimal route algorithm, quickly guiding them to the recommended parking space. This maximized user satisfaction, and decreased parking time drastically (maximum 75%).
Furthermore, an official explained that through the reduction of the vehicle roaming and idling in the parking lot which led to the reduction of indoor fine dust and carbon dioxide emissions, it contributed to public health and environmental protection.
Since the Watchmile service can be directly applicable in various countries and cities experiencing parking issues, they are also working on extending the business abroad.
VEStellaLab official explained, “As the global market for smart parking is expected to be 3.8 billion dollars in 2023, there seems to be sufficient demand. Currently, based on the Incheon International Airport service scheduled, we are aiming to prioritize introducing the Watchmile service to airports overseas. In the second half of this year, we have completed establishment of a foreign branch in Singapore and are also in the middle of establishing a corporation in the United States.”
Meanwhile, Seoul was selected as one the global TOP 10 cities in the world to start a business this year. Various players from the startup ecosystem such as large global conglomerates, investment institutions, unicorn companies, and media companies are participating to further revitalize the Seoul startup ecosystem.
Accordingly, more than 40 programs, such as competitions, lectures, and seminars, were held at Try Everything 2022 to expand domestic startups’ global expansion and revitalize the startup ecosystem in Seoul. Various global institutions and domestic and foreign startup ecosystem experts from the South Summit, Extreme. Challenge, Startup Genome, and the U.S. Embassy in Seoul also participated.