BETAPITCH landed in Seoul last week! Our very first visit to Asia. How did that happen? Well. On June 25th, we teamed up with Accelerate Korea for the BETAPITCH | Seoul taking place in the brand new Google Campus. We welcomed over 140 startup entrants who competed in a rapid and rigorous selection. Five teams won the grand prize – a spot in Accelerate Korea’s brand new three-month Business Acceleration Program in betahaus | Berlin. At BETAPITCH we got to pick the number one winner who’ll compete with our winners from Berlin, Hamburg, Sofia, Barcelona, Vienna and Campinas on August 29th. Who is it? It’s JOKERPACK Inc. with their product BeeCanvas!
BeeCanvas is an online visual collaboration tool: a virtual canvas for anything. It enables you to arrange files, links and other resources along with visual comments on a single canvas, so all shared information can be understood at a glance. BeeCanvas can be used for aggregating song lyrics, music videos and scans of tickets, just as well as it can be used for sharing storyboard sketches, video clips and text scripts – all in real time.
So what are the five startups who will represent the Korean startup ecosystem and spend 3 months in the acceleration program at betahaus | Berlin this summer? Our friends at Tech In Asia summed it up pretty nicely, so read we’re featuring their article. For their full item, click here.
5th place: RX Cycle
Cycling is a great way to exercise, but as with any outdoor sport, the weather doesn’t always cooperate. Sure, you could stay inside and ride an exercise bike, but it’s just not the same. ConsiderC’s RX Cycle is a high-tech indoor cycling solution with tracking and simulation functions that would satisfy even a Tour de France competitor. The hardware itself puts anything at the local gym to shame. RX Cycle allows a rider to lift out of the seat for sprinting or hill climbing, with a suspension system that tilts it side to side just like the real thing. It even has “real wind effects” – a pair of fans that blow air in your face – that make you feel like you’re moving relative to the speed of the simulation. There’s even a shifting system that’s tied to the bike’s automatic resistance control, so riders have to find the appropriate gear based on their simulated ride.
4th place: BbuzzArt
BbuzzArt is an online community for amateur artists, emerging critics, up-and-coming curators, and art lovers of all stripes. The startup hopes to position itself as the go-to social network for the artistic community, and also as a platform for up-and-coming artists to be discovered.
While other online art communities abound, like US-based DeviantArt, BbuzzArt’s emphasis is on fine art, specifically, and making real connections between artist and critic or artist and curator. Users are encouraged to provide feedback for each submission they view and to upvote artists that they think have real-world potential.
3rd place: 04Master
Master Company’s product, 04Master, is like Uber for cranes, bulldozers and excavators. The startup’s platform matches construction companies with heavy equipment owners based on proximity to the job site. Not only can contractors find the usual brand-name rental agencies, but they can also opt to rent from private business owners who may not need a specific piece of machinery on that given day.
04Master is available via website and an Android app for contractors on the move. Rental requests can be made 24 hours a day, making sure that you can get the machines even in unexpected situations.
2nd place: Lollicam
Selfies are, and have been, all the rage in Asia – and among teeny boppers regardless of continent – for years now. Seerslab is banking on the video selfie, with its Lollicam app for Android. Lollicam features pre-processing, real-time editing so that videos can be made to look the way a user wants it to look on the fly, without the need to upload the video to external editing software.
In addition to its filters, effects, and animated stickers, Lollicam also offers free lifetime cloud storage to ensure that a user’s device never runs out of space.
1st place: BeeCanvas
The winning startup, which will pitch at the BETAPITCH | global finale on August 29th, is JokerPack. Its product is BeeCanvas: a virtual canvas for anything. A fan of a specific rock band, for example, could use BeeCanvas to aggregate song lyrics, music videos from YouTube, scans of their ticket stubs, and a photo slideshow of a live performance. A team in the advertising industry, on the other hand, could use BeeCanvas as a visual version of Slack – sharing storyboard sketches, video clips, and text scripts for a commercial they’re working on, and all in real time.
Would you like to see the winner pitching off at the big finals?
Join us for the BETAPITCH & Investors Day during the People In Beta festival on August 29th in Berlin.
Get a ticket now & here!
The post BETAPITCH | Seoul’s winner and the crème de la crème of Korea’s startup ecosystem appeared first on .