Factory's Post 🇪🇺 #18

Factory's Post is back to deliver the insights you need for your business growth.💡 We've gathered the latest business trends, useful information for market entry, and hot news from the Korea-Europe ecosystem!

🧬 K-Biotech Innovation Day in Heidelberg: Connecting Korean Biotech Innovation with the BioRN Ecosystem

BioRN Life Science Cluster and 123 Factory GmbH are pleased to invite biotech, pharma, clinical, academic, and investment stakeholders to K-Biotech Innovation Day on 17 September 2026 at the Business Development Center in Heidelberg. The event will bring together six innovative Korean biotech and medtech startups to explore collaboration opportunities with the BioRN life science ecosystem.

The delegating startups will present technologies across gene therapy, AI-based digital health, natural-product therapeutics, multi-omics diagnostics, CTC liquid biopsy, and longevity drug discovery. Participating companies include AAVATAR Therapeutics, AIT Studio, BICHEDAM, BeyondDx, and LMNTIC Biotech.

✨ Why join?
• Discover emerging Korean biotech and medtech innovations
• Explore R&D, clinical validation, licensing, and commercialization opportunities
• Connect with founders seeking European research, clinical, distribution, and strategic partners

Join Now! 👉 Link

🌱 ClimateLaunchpad South Korea National Final

123 Factory has successfully completed Korea’s first ClimateLaunchpad programme as the country’s official national partner. ClimateLaunchpad is one of the world’s largest climate innovation programmes, supporting early-stage founders in transforming climate-focused ideas into scalable business models through structured bootcamps, expert coaching, mentoring, and international competition. The programme will now culminate in the South Korea National Final on July 20, where the participating teams will present their solutions and compete for the opportunity to advance to the Asia-Pacific Regional Final and, ultimately, the Global Grand Final in Singapore. Stay tuned to follow their journey!

🚀 Discover 123 Factory’s Portfolio Startups 

We are also excited to introduce our new portfolio startup page, designed to make it easier for European companies, investors, and ecosystem partners to discover innovative Korean startups.

The page is still in its early stage, and more than 100 additional startups will be added over time. We invite you to check back regularly and explore new opportunities for collaboration with Korea’s most promising founders.

Explore our portfolio here: portfolio.123factory.de/ 

🤝 Launchpad Korea × Berlin: Asian Innovation Meets Europe 

Together with AsiaBerlin, 123 Factory co-hosted the side event “Launchpad Korea × Berlin: Asian Innovation Meets Europe” during GITEX AI Europe. The event brought together Korean and Berlin-based startups, investors, innovation organisations, and ecosystem builders for pitching, market-entry insights, and networking. More than a simple introduction, the event created a space where founders from Korea and Berlin shared the same stage, learned directly about each other’s markets, and initiated new collaboration discussions, with several startups continuing those conversations through follow-up opportunities at GITEX. 

💼 KFS Europe × SuperReturn Week: Korean Finance Meets Europe 

During SuperReturn Week, Korea Finance Society Europe hosted a networking event in Berlin for Korean professionals working across finance, investment, startups, and international business. 123 Factory and Eunseo Yi supported the gathering, helping create a platform where investors, founders, and business leaders operating between Korea and Europe could build deeper connections. Discussions focused on cross-border investment opportunities, the global expansion of Korean startups, and the growing potential of the Korean finance network in Europe, while companies such as momogo and SULDOK demonstrated how Korean businesses can position themselves within European investor and global business networks. 

🇫🇷 VivaTech 2026 Highlights the European Potential of Korean Startups 

123 Factory participated in VivaTech 2026 in Paris, expanding opportunities to connect Korean startups with Europe’s innovation ecosystem. During the event, we met with the healthtech team at Choose Paris Region to discuss potential pathways for Korean healthcare and biotech startups entering the French market, and together with KOSPO, we also brought together 11 Korean founders based in France and Germany to exchange views on the development of the Korean founder ecosystem in Europe and the future direction of GKFN Europe. More than an exhibition visit, VivaTech became an opportunity to build practical foundations for European expansion by connecting Korean startups with local public institutions, industry stakeholders, and Korean founder networks across Europe.

Investment

💸 AI and Robotics Take the Lead in Korea’s Startup Funding Boom

Investment in Korean startups and unlisted SMEs reached KRW 7.8 trillion across 540 deals in the first half of 2026, representing a 204.7% increase from the same period last year. However, the number of deals fell by 5.4%, while investments worth at least KRW 10 billion accounted for 93% of the total funding volume, showing that the recovery is being driven by a relatively small number of large transactions.

The concentration was even stronger in AI and robotics, which attracted KRW 2.685 trillion—up 485.2% year-on-year. According to the data, 91.5% of all seed-stage capital went to companies in these two fields, highlighting growing investor demand for deep-tech startups with strong technological barriers and industrial applications.

For European investors and founders, the message is mixed but significant: Korea has substantial capital available for AI and robotics, but investors are becoming increasingly selective. Companies entering the market will need more than a general AI proposition—they will need differentiated technology, credible commercial use cases, and strong connections to Korea’s industrial ecosystem. Read the original article.

Policy

⚖️ Korea Moves Venture Investment Contracts Closer to Global Standards

On June 30, Korea’s Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Korea Venture Investment introduced a revised set of standard venture investment agreements—the first major update since 2023. Developed through discussions involving startups, venture capital firms, accelerators, legal experts, and industry organisations, the revision aims to reduce unfair contractual practices and create a more balanced investment environment.

The new framework separates the share purchase agreement from the shareholders’ agreement and reduces 32 complex contract models to five main types. It also recommends weighted-average anti-dilution provisions instead of full-ratchet clauses, shifts IPO obligations from guaranteed outcomes to best-effort commitments, promotes the use of convertible preferred shares rather than redemption-focused structures, and strengthens limits on third-party joint liability.

The agreements are recommended models rather than mandatory rules, meaning their real impact will depend on how widely investors adopt them. Nevertheless, the reform could make Korean investment negotiations more transparent and familiar for international investors while giving founders clearer protection during fundraising and future financing rounds. Read the official announcement.

🏙️ Beyond Seoul: Four Cities Rise as Korea’s Next Startup Hubs

The Korean government has launched a major programme to strengthen startup ecosystems in Daegu, Gwangju, Daejeon, and Ulsan, reducing the country’s long-standing concentration of capital, talent, and support organisations in the Seoul metropolitan area. The programme will select 278 startups located in—or planning to relocate to—the four cities, with eligible companies receiving up to KRW 400 million in commercialisation funding.

Unlike conventional centrally managed programmes, local governments will directly design the selection criteria for 100 of the participating companies based on their regional industries and innovation strategies. Korea also plans to designate six additional startup cities later in 2026, with the longer-term objective of developing five regional ecosystems that rank among the world’s top 100 by 2030.

For European startups, this is not necessarily a direct funding route unless they establish or relocate a qualified business in Korea, but it reveals where new public resources, testbeds, research connections, and industrial partnerships are likely to emerge. Companies exploring Korea should therefore look beyond Seoul and consider regional hubs offering stronger connections to specialised industries, universities, research institutes, and public-sector pilot opportunities.

Meet New Companies!

We’d like to take a moment to introduce you to some of the companies you should watch in the Korea–Europe deep-tech ecosystem. Today, we introduce ILJOO GnS, an established Korean technology company developing ICT convergence solutions for industrial infrastructure, energy management and operational safety.

⚓ Intelligent Safety and Digital Operations for Ports and Energy Systems

ILJOO G&S combines IoT technologies, industrial data analytics and predictive maintenance capabilities to collect, monitor and analyse information from complex infrastructure and equipment. Its broader technology portfolio includes solutions for energy and power management, distributed energy resources and smart industrial environments.

ILJOO GnS brings established industrial ICT experience and is now looking for European research and technology partners to jointly develop, validate and demonstrate new solutions.

Potential collaboration areas include sensor and monitoring technologies, AI-based anomaly detection, predictive maintenance, ESS fire-risk detection, maritime and port safety, system integration, field testing and joint European or international R&D projects.

If your organisation is interested in collaborative R&D or pilot projects in the maritime, port or ESS safety sectors, feel free to reach out anytime—we would be happy to arrange an introduction or an initial R&D call!

Thank you for reading Factory’s Post!
We will be taking a brief summer break throughout August and will return in September with a fresh new look.

We’d like to thank everyone who has read our newsletter and shown their support. Moving forward, 123 Factory will continue to develop projects that bridge the innovation ecosystems of Europe and Korea, foster global collaboration opportunities, and create programs that support growth in new markets. If you have any news, suggestions, or collaboration ideas you’d like to share with our community, please feel free to email us at [email protected] anytime.

We’ll be back in September with even better stories! 🚀