Giftpack Joins the K-Startup Grand Challenge 2020

Giftpack Joins the K-Startup Grand Challenge 2020

The Korean startup camp for 60 global startups

Giftpack

Giftpack

Feb 16th 20224 min read

Recently, Giftpack has been immersed in the K-STARTUP GRAND CHALLENGE 2020 (KSGC), a program organized by the South Korean government aiming to support promising startups around the world and turn South Korea into a global startup hub in Asia.

What is K-Startup Grand Challenge?

South Korea has proven its technological strength to the world in the last few decades but it doesn’t stop here. The country is ambitious to transform the economy for another century of success so it is no surprise that the government is eager to attract foreign and talented entrepreneurs to establish their businesses in Korea and make Pangyo Creative Economy Valley becoming the Korean version of Silicon Valley.

Hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) and organised by National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA), K-Startup Grand Challenge is a highly selective accelerator program that invites only 60 out of 2,000+ technology-based global startups to South Korea and engages with the local businesses to kickstart their development in Asia. The program has been providing financial, technical, networking, visa support and so on to the selected technology startups since it was launched in 2016.

The 3-month long program takes place in the Pangyo Creative Economy Valley which is located in the south of Seoul from Sep 1 — Nov 30. Giftpack has been striving towards becoming one of the top 5 companies on Demo Day award with a settlement fund in South Korea and additional prizes.

The Accelerating Program

After grueling months of application reviews and global auditions, Giftpack was selected as one of the 60 global startups (competition rate is 44:1) to participate in the Accelerating Program this year. Fortunately, connected to KSGC is TheVentures, a venture capital-focused on community-driven impact investments. They chose Giftpack to be a part of their accelerator program to link a community of entrepreneurs and global experts together in the investment and incubation. TheVentures is a group of founders backing founders, and we’re grateful to know we’ll be in good company as we focus on growing our business in Korea.

Our CEO, Archer, is enjoying the benefits of the program from using the office space to connect with his international team to informative coaching sessions regarding local culture and business operations.

One of the most impactful experiences so far is meeting representatives from major Korean companies such as KaKao Group, Samsung, Hyundai Motors, KT Corporation, and SK Group via conferences, seminars, and workshop. These impressively influential corporations run multiple businesses in Korea and lead in their respective local industries. Networking with key contacts within these corporations provides the foot-in-the-door we need for our entrance into the Korean market to promote our gifting service.

Apart from networking with those well-established enterprises, the organizer also hosts multiple matchmaking events throughout the program to encourage cooperation between startups and local entrepreneurs. Interaction with these creative minds who also have the vision to make the world a better place is inspiring and beneficial to our future development as they provide perspectives different than our own.

Photo by Startup Stock Photos from Pexels

The Incentives

Between November 17–19, there will be a Demo Day which is a highly publicized event where the top 30 startups will be selected and awarded based on their performance on the Demo Day and Settlement Evaluation. It is no doubt that all of the teams are eyeing on prizes for the top 5 as they are up to $120,000 and we believe our AI-powered corporate gifting solutions is a game changer so stay tuned for the result.

Our Plan

As a tech start-up committed to creating a first-class corporate gifting experience at scale, Giftpack is thrilled to be a part of this program as we look forward to expanding our service operations in Korea. We now already localized our service into Korean and ready to provide the AI-powered personalized corporate gifting solutions in Korea. ( See more at https://giftpack.ai/kr ).

Despite the challenges brought about in 2020, we’re seizing the serendipitous opportunities presented to us along the way.

During our stay in Korea, we’re focusing on 3 objectives:

  • Incorporating with other established businesses to streamline their day-to-day responsibilities.
  • Establishing partnerships with delivery giants, gift vendors, software-as-a-service companies, and human resources or recruitment platforms to fill in any market gaps with our AI technology.
  • Transform the working culture in Korea by supporting business to strengthen key relationships with our gifting solution.

At the moment, Giftpack sees the opportunity to increase employee engagement through employee gifting in Korea more than ever. In our observation of Eastern Asian corporate culture, employee recognition is seldom highlighted and crucial touchpoints to fostering a sense of belonging or retaining top talent are overlooked. While the country’s social distancing guidelines decreased face-to-face interaction between coworkers, Giftpack offers a personalized employee gifting solution for enterprises to express their gratitude for workers who are staying resilient and adapting to these changes.

With support from the Korean government, our team at Giftpack is confident in launching the AI-Powered Corporate Gifting Service to help Korean enterprises to strengthen their business relationships in an innovative way.

Giftpack

Giftpack

Feb 16th 20224 min read

About Giftpack

Giftpack's AI-powered solution simplifies the corporate gifting process and amplifies the impact of personalized gifts. We're crafting memorable touchpoints by sending personalized gifts selected out of a curated pool of 3 million options with just one click. Our AI technology efficiently analyzes each recipient's social media, cultural background, and digital footprint to customize gift options at scale. We take care of generating, ordering, and shipping gifts worldwide. We're transforming the way people build authentic business relationships by sending smarter gifts faster with gifting CRM.

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