Nanotech startup Deepsmartech crowned at D.Day’s July demo day

Nanotech startup Deepsmartech celebrated its victory Thursday at July D.Day, held on Jeju Island, a South Korean resort isle poised to become the country’s regional startup hub.

Founded in August 2022, Deepsmartech develops various polymer nano-coating technologies using its proprietary polymeric vapor deposition technology.

Compared with conventional chemical vapor deposition technology that requires high temperatures to achieve thin coatings on chip surfaces, Deepsmartech’s nanotechnology enables uniform nano-coating at room temperature.

Nanotechnology is the science and engineering of minuscule things. One nanometer is one-billionth of a meter.

Deepsmartech’s nano-coating technology is expected to be very useful in the semiconductor and electric vehicle battery sectors.

The technology can be applied to EV battery separators and silicon parts and is expected to improve EVs' driving range and lower the risk of battery fire, the company said.

NANOTECH TO HEALTH, FIN-TECH, MARKETPLACE AND HOBBY

Deepsmartech beat four other contenders that reached the final stage of D.Day this month. Overall, 128 early-stage startups applied to compete in Korea’s oldest monthly startup pitch race in July.

The four other finalists at the 110th D.Day were Lansik, Tams, Cycloid and Clebrain.

Lansik has developed Glucofit, a diet solutions app that uses continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology. The app records glucose levels in real time via a sensor attached to a user’s arm so the user can monitor and manage their food intake based on real-time glucose data.

Tams is behind SELBI, a fintech app for car dealers that offers an all-in-one auto finance quotation service. It is expected to help save time and expense in the car finance quotation process, the company explained.

Tams has already signed business consignment contracts with Hana Card and other large Korean financial companies and plans an official app launch in the third quarter.

Cycloid is developing an online marketplace for secondhand two-wheelers. It hopes the new platform can protect consumers from scams in the country’s used two-wheeler market due to the absence of a state-certified maintenance qualification system and official performance records for two-wheelers.

Clebrain’s PianoKiwis is a sheet music app aimed at helping amateur musicians master a piece of music within a few days using visualized notes, intervals, chords and scales. It automatically reads music and scrolls sheet music.

The company plans to add an ultra-personalized music learning solution later. The app already boasts 32,000 subscribers, according to the company.

REGIONAL STARTUP ECOSYSTEM

This was the first time that D.Camp held a D.Day demo day for a regional league on Jeju Island. Jeju, home to Korean internet giant Kakao Corp., has been vying to become a regional startup hub.

D.Camp is the Korean startup accelerator backed by the Banks Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs and has been hosting a D.Day startup pitch competition monthly since June 2013.

The day before its Jeju Demo Day, the startup accelerator met with startup experts and scholars on the island to discuss ways to invigorate a regional startup ecosystem outside the country’s capital region.

D.Camp has agreed to chip in 10.2 billion won ($7.9 million) toward seven regional startup funds.

It also has been running monthly startup networking events in five Korean provinces —Gyeongsang, Jeolla, Chungcheong, Gangwon and Jeju — via its Remote Work program. The program fosters exchanges between early-stage startups, venture capitalists and established entrepreneurs outside of Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi Province.

Write to Sookyung Seo at skseo@hankyung.com
Edited by Jennifer Nicholson-Breen.