The domestic accelerator Bluepoint Partners (hereafter Bluepoint) held its 12th demo day, "AVALANCHE," on September 16.

Bluepoint's demo day is an event where Bluepoint shares the many considerations it faced during its early-stage technology investments and the answers to those considerations in a demo day format. This year, it was conducted as a corporate IR-focused event that practically aids in attracting investment, deviating from the traditional public disclosure method. Over 300 large corporations and investment firms participated in the event.


During the event, startups in the fields of climate and environment, artificial intelligence (AI), and hardware (physical) made presentations. The participating startups included Plascycle, Beyond Capture, Greenapple, First Lab, Le Mont, Pulix, Alt A, Impactive AI, Shinsungo, Antigravity, X-Up, and MSI Labs, totaling 12 companies.

Plascycle develops a chemical recycling solution for waste plastics based on special catalysts. The core technology of Plascycle is chemical recycling that overcomes the limitations of mechanical recycling. Plascycle enables semi-permanent recycling by implementing the original raw material form at the molecular level. Chang Hong-je, CEO of Plascycle, emphasized, "Currently, we are focusing on polycarbonate, but in the future, we will build a total recycling technology applicable to all plastics such as PET and polyurethane," and added, "Plascycle will lead the way in using plastics without environmental burdens."

Beyond Capture developed a carbon capture battery that operates solely on electricity to overcome the limitations of existing direct air capture (DAC) technology. It activates the catalyst with electrical energy to capture carbon dioxide and desorbs carbon by releasing the voltage. This can be utilized with all renewable energies, including solar, wind, and hydro. The modular design like solar panels is also an advantage. As a result, costs and schedules can be predicted from small to large scales. Beyond Capture has independently designed materials, components, and system engineering and is conducting demonstration tests with large corporations after completing the prototype. Kim Byung-soo, CEO of Beyond Capture, stated, "We will expand beyond the domestic market to overseas markets actively building climate policies and infrastructure," and added, "Beyond Capture will be a company that can solve the climate crisis."


Greenapple is a company with technology for producing new materials and bioenergy using agricultural by-products. Greenapple's core technology, "ADOS," directly produces biogas from solid biomass, which was inaccessible with existing wet anaerobic digestion technology. It shows 400% higher biogas productivity compared to wet technology, does not cause wastewater and odor, and can be directly applied to large energy projects through system modularization. Due to these characteristics, it was recently selected as a core technology in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's bio clean hydrogen project. Lee Hyung-sool, CEO of Greenapple, stated, "We plan to expand the business step by step from biogas to clean hydrogen," and added, "We will contribute to solving the intermittency problem of existing solar and wind energy and global climate change and energy issues."

First Lab developed "Chemitox," a PFAS decomposition device using ultrasonic technology. PFAS is widely used in paper cup coatings, water-repellent coatings, cosmetics, and frying pan coatings, but it does not decompose in the body, causing various diseases. Chemitox vibrates 400,000 times per second, creating hundreds of thousands of bubbles, and when the bubbles collapse, it releases pressure over 2000 atmospheres and a large amount of natural oxidant OH radicals to efficiently decompose PFAS. First Lab succeeded in decomposing PFOA and PFOS, representative PFAS substances, below European standards and is currently conducting demonstration tests with global water treatment companies and PFAS wastewater-generating companies. Hwang Bo-sun-ae, Vice President of First Lab, stated, "Our goal is to grow into a global top 3 company by expanding into a platform for dealing with persistent substances," and added, "We will strive to create a sustainable society."

Le Mont is an AI agent platform company for the food service market, introducing a customer management solution called "Comment Mong." Comment Mong aggregates reviews from various platforms and automatically generates customized comments for food service operators. This reduces the comment management work time for food service operators from 480 minutes per month to 60 minutes per month. It also detects malicious reviews in real-time and provides response guidelines. Comment Mong surpassed 10,000 users 17 months after its launch. Some franchises require the use of Comment Mong when signing new franchise contracts. Lee Hee-yong, CEO of Le Mont, stated, "We will build a comprehensive AI agent platform that can grow businesses into enterprises and expand into marketing agents and financial services."

Pulix is an AI-based hyper-personalized food manufacturing solution company that provides a one-stop process from food planning to commercialization. It solves the process of idea concretization through AI consultants, marketability analysis using AI market tools, selection of manufacturers that meet conditions, sample confirmation, and package selection and design with its own tools and data. Pulix has commercialized 26 foods, including YouTuber brands and local foods, over the past 10 months and is conducting projects with multiple IP companies. Lee Jin-gil, CEO of Pulix, explained, "We are causing changes in the industry by integrating and systematizing the fragmented food ecosystem," and added, "We expect to grow significantly when the automation solution is completed."


Alt A developed a last-mile road optimization traffic solution utilizing existing road infrastructure. It collects basic data in the traffic and administrative fields through CCTVs installed on roads and applies an AI algorithm capable of object type and directionality, and spatial division to overcome the perspective limitations of a single camera. This is used for collecting quantified data, automating administrative tasks such as budget allocation, analyzing traffic issues based on AI, managing illegal parking, and ensuring safety in children's protection zones. Alt A currently has customers in nine districts in Seoul, Incheon, Gwangju, Busan, and Barcelona, Spain. Lee Tae-woo, CEO of Alt A, expressed his ambition, "We will grow into a global leader in the last-mile data field."

Impactive AI provides corporate demand forecasting services. Based on 15 years of accumulated expertise in predictive modeling, it developed corporate software "Deepflow" applying its own predictive model and data augmentation techniques. It implemented a time-series prediction structure that quantifies events such as Trump's tariff remarks, wars, and pandemics and reflects them in demand forecasting, and developed a machine learning prediction model using quantum computing resources, achieving superior performance compared to existing deep learning models. Deepflow has been introduced to pharmaceutical companies, steel companies, etc., contributing to reducing inventory shortages, excess inventory, and cost savings. Jung Doo-hee, CEO of Impactive AI, explained, "Demand forecasting is the most important but difficult problem to solve," and added, "Impactive AI is enhancing demand forecasting performance by reflecting even unexpected rapid changes."

Shinsungo provides cold chain logistics services utilizing constant temperature technology. To improve the difficulties of maintaining temperature, inconvenient transportation, complex packaging processes, and large and heavy systems, which are cited as the drawbacks of existing cold chains, it developed miniaturized hybrid thermoelectric module cooling technology, vacuum insulation technology using organic new materials, and foldable packaging technology. This achieved 90% improvement in space optimization, 50% reduction in carbon dioxide, 10% reduction in energy, and 5% reduction in maintenance costs. Lee Sung-hoon, CEO of Shinsungo, stated, "We will provide a more efficient, simple, and affordable cold chain by shifting the paradigm from total cooling to individual cooling," and added, "We will become a company that completely innovates the cold chain."


Antigravity provides a body shape-customized bra solution. Its core product, "Dr. Breast," is a medical device that must be worn during the recovery period after breast augmentation surgery. Dr. Breast provides both a fixation function to prevent the movement of implants and a function to manage swelling caused by surgery. Antigravity has achieved a 10% market share in major hospitals and plans to enter the U.S. market by 2026. Yeon Bong-geun, CEO of Antigravity, stated, "We will achieve horizontal and regional expansion through medical and fashion AI solutions."

X-Up developed a robot that automatically performs golf course turf damage and ball mark repair work. It detects the damage area, automatically calculates the location and size, and completes accurate repair. Once the work area is selected, it automatically generates a safe and fast path, and can work on slopes up to 30 degrees. It applied environment-adaptive vision technology to accurately respond to spring sprouts, autumn golden turf, and winter dry turf. Night vision technology that enables night work was also applied. Lee Yong-soo, CEO of X-Up, stated, "Unlike existing robot companies, X-Up discovered problems in golf courses and developed solutions specialized for golf courses," and added, "We plan to expand into golf course operation and management business based on accumulated data, experience, and know-how."

MSI Labs is a startup from the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, aiming to become a world-class engineering company in the SMR field.


Lee Yong-gwan, CEO of Bluepoint, explained, "AI is triggering innovation across a wide range of industries. This can be confirmed in the technological capabilities and services of the startups introduced today. The name of this demo day, Avalanche, reflects this." Avalanche is an English word meaning a snow slide, metaphorically referring to a situation where a large amount suddenly pours out.

Additionally, CEO Lee stated, "Unlike the existing demo day that conveyed the expertise of startups to the public, this year was structured so that startups can receive direct help for growth by closely interacting with investors, large corporations, and judges."

IT Donga Reporter Han Man-hyuk (mh@itdonga.com)

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