dConstruct Robotics becomes 2nd foreign startup to win at D.Day

South Korea’s decade-old startup pitch competition D.Day has picked Singapore-based mobile robotics application developer dConstruct Robotics as the foreign startup winner and Function12 as the local winner in its second global demo day held last week.

D.Camp, a Korean startup accelerator backed by the Banks Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs, held D.Day X Global League, the second of its kind, in Seoul on Feb. 23. It was initially vied by 120 startups from home and abroad, and eight startups were selected as finalists.

In the overseas group, dConstruct Robotics led by its Chief Technology Officer Jiayi Chong picked up the biggest award, while Function12 led by its Chief Executive Officer Shawn Park won in the Korean startup group, D.Camp announced last Friday.

dConstruct Robotics is a developer of d.ASH pack, a simultaneous localization mapping program that enables a robot to identify its location and collect information about the surrounding environment in real-time to optimize its movement.

Function12 provides a design-to-code software as a service (SaaS) for front-end developers around the world. The program helps developers save about 5% in development time, said Function12 CEO Park.

D.Camp held the first D.Day X Global League in November last year to help local startups’ in their global advance and overseas startups in their Korean market foray. Last week’s event was the second of its kind, and another global pitch day for both local and foreign startups is slated for later this year, according to D.Camp.

The global demo day kicked off in response to local startups’ strong demand for organized support for their global advance.

After D.Camp also confirmed similar demand from foreign startups to enter the Korean market, it last year signed a partnership contract with Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) under the Singapore Ministry of Communications and Information to support both Korean and foreign companies’ global push.

IMDA was invited to last week’s event as a global partner along with Cento Ventures, a Singapore-based venture capital investing in tech startups at an early stage, and another Singapore-based venture capital firm Golden Gate Ventures.

Three more foreign startups, one each from the US, Hong Kong and Japan, were named among the eight finalists.     

The winners dConstruct Robotics and Function12 will be offered office space inside D.Camp’s startup centers in Seoul, D.Camp and Front1, as well as overseas centers.

They will also enjoy networking services with venture capitalists and business advisers and be able tap follow-up investments in consultation with D.Day Alliance, formed between D.Camp and venture capital firms, which reviews the candidates’ business portfolios and facilitates their networking.

Foreign startups especially can take advantage of inbound visa consulting services with the Overall Assistance for Startup Immigration System (OASIS) program under the Global Startup Immigration Center designated by Korea’s Minister of Justice and the Minister of Small and Medium Venture Businesses.

D.Camp hosts a startup pitch day, dubbed D.Day, every month for early stage startups. Its first event was in June 2013.

The next D.Day is scheduled on March 30 of this year.

Write to Sookyung Seo at skseo@hankyung.com

Jennifer Nicholson-Breen edited this article.