We wrapped up the first edition of the S² Bridge Incheon Startup Park Insights program with our newest partner, Shinhan Financial Group and MediaU last month and we are excited to share the results.

The S² Bridge Incheon Startup Park, launched at the end of 2020 by Shinhan Financial Group — Korea’s largest financial institution, is a $63 Million 5-year project aimed at accelerating the growth of startups in Korea and globally. ERA Global is very proud to be the USA East Coast official partner for this impactful initiative. 

S² Bridge Incheon Startup Park Insights was an immersive six-week program combining live video advisory discussions with industry experts, seasoned entrepreneurs, weekly workshops, one-on-one office hours led by the ERA team and venture partners, mentoring hours, and follow-up assignments.

The four participants were: 

• Augmented Knowledge (AK), an AI-based XR educational content platform for the aviation and smart manufacturing industries.
• Coconut Silo, the “Uber for Freight” a logistics platform to connect the different market players.
• Quad Miners, a network security solution against cyber threats. 
• Spiceware, a cloud-native Personally Identifiable Identity (PII) protection applications for the financial industry.

In six weeks, the companies attended 11 workshops covering major topics for any company looking to be in the US: Business, Fundraising and Administrative/Logistics. Workshops included topics such as “US Business Cultural Etiquette”, “Customer Discovery” or “Setting up a US market strategy and financial strategy”.

Each week, the startups participated in a pitch practice, where they honed their content and delivery skills with the Global team and invited experts. Industry pros from Fortune 500 companies, serial entrepreneurs and investors from New York and around the globe also dedicated their time to provide valuable feedback.

When joining the program, each company was assigned a lead mentor, acting as their primary advisor and support during the program. Companies also worked with a pool of experts carefully curated from the ERA pool of 500+ mentors. track their KPIs to hit their milestones and a pool of expert mentors carefully curated from the ERA pool of 500+ mentors. The program closed with a virtual pitch event, where the founders shared their company presentations with an audience of US investors, corporates and industry experts.

Through the program, the companies made significant progress. AK doubled down on sales efforts and partnerships with IBM, Airbus and the Aviation Institute of Maintenance. Coconut Silo uncovered new product features focused on green energy and sustainability, giving the company a strong competitive edge. Quad Miners moved forward with US incorporation and started planning for their next round of fundraising. And Spiceware narrowed down its industry focus on the financial industry and shifted the pitch and go-to-market structure accordingly. 

If you are interested in learning more about and/or working with ERA Global, please reach out: partners@eranycglobal.com.