Mobility startup Poen takes first place at Geeks Show Up event in Jeju

South Korea’s mobility startup Poen secured first place at the first-ever Geeks Show Up on Nov. 17, a demo day hosted by The Korea Economic Daily’s startup division on Jeju Island. 

Poen, which started as a venture project within Hyundai Motor Co., is working to give new life to used electric vehicle (EV) batteries. 

Some 10 select startups in the eco-friendly, mobility and tourism sectors duked it out at Thursday's event, held on Korea's southern resort island that emerging as a test bed for startups. 

A group of venture capital veterans served as judges for the event, headed by the CEO of Xplor Investment Lee Jong-hoon, the corporate VC arm of GS Engineering & Construction Co. 

The judges gave high marks to startups that have a high potential for commercialization. Hit by the global economic downturn, investors are now showing more interest in return on investment than the products' technicality.

The premise of the demo day was that the Geeks Show Up investors formed a fund worth 10 billion won ($7.5 million) and the event's judges were meant to distribute the investment based on the startups' growth potential, profitability and open innovation feasibility. 

The top three winning startups received 10 million won each. 

While Poen’s main business is refurbishing used EV batteries, it also provides services that forecast how long the battery is good for and potential damages to the refurbished products. 

The maker of delivery robots on wheels Mobbin and solar energy convergence company Nanoon Energy were the runner-ups. 

“The startup scene in Jeju has completely changed compared to four years ago when I was working here,” Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of CJ Invesmtent Inc. Kim Joon-sik said.

Write to Lan Heo, Eun-Yi Ko and Jong-Woo Kim at why@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.