SparkLabs Fourth Batch Graduates Nine Companies

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA--(Marketwired - December 10, 2014) - SparkLabs (www.sparklabs.co.kr) is graduating its fourth batch of companies with a frenzied interest in its demo day. Over 900 people have registered to attend their demo day event.

"Even with over 30,000 startups in Korea and SparkLabs' growing reputation in Asia, our team is still surprised by the overwhelming interest in our demo day. We have people flying in from the U.S., Europe and throughout Asia for what is really a standard accelerator demo day event," said Sophia Choi, Senior Associate at SparkLabs. "Our team is proud of this batch and all of our batches because startups and enterpreneurship really are the main drivers of innovation and economic growth for any nation. Our job is to help seed and grow these companies that will hopefully make a lasting impact in Korea, the U.S. and elsewhere around the world."

Speaking at their demo day are alumni from SparkLabs' first batch, which are some of the leaders in South Korea's startup ecosystem. Chester Roh, Co-founder of 5Rocks and a well-known serial entrepreneur in Korea; Dino Ha, Co-founder & CEO of Memebox; YJ Kim, Co-founder & Co-CEO of KnowRe. 5Rocks was recently acquired by Tapjoy, Memebox was considered a "Top 3" company in last winter's Y Combinator batch and rapidly expanding into the U.S. and China, and KnowRe recently closed a $6.8 million Series A round and was selected as a "Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Education" in the world by the Fast Company.

SparkLabs' fourth class that are presenting on demo day are:

HUD Technologies: HUD has developed a new technology to render 3D images and virtual reality of buildings by simply using floor plans. Instead of using traditional method of having panoramic cameras to generate an image of the complete building, they utilize their innovative algorithmic modeling technique. HUD's alpha version is currently available on web and the official beta version will be available by May 2015. So far, they have produced 3D models for 4,500 apartments in the Gangnam area of Seoul and they plan to have 3D data for 4.5 million residential facilities in Korea by late 2015.

Water Strider (formerly Open21): Water Strider invented a new touch sensor with high resolution and spectrum for both surface and space. This potentially revolutionary technology can be applied to home appliances, robotics, heavy industries and many other fields. This technique can be used to resolve technical and cost issues faced by different types of markets utilizing sensors. Water Strider's R&D team is developing an ASIC chip by mid-2015 for commercialization.

Beacon Doctor: Based out of Chengdu, China, Beacon Doctor aims to provide a mobile and cloud based solution for doctors and the medical community to collaborate and communicate more effectively. Beacon Doctor has three major features: Dynamic Directory, Cloud Storage and Search, and Medical Network Service (MNS). Beacon Doctor will launch their iOS app at the end of December.

Vengine: Vengine is an interactive career discovery app that guides users to opportunities based on their skills, work style and goals. By collecting a diverse set of real-time data points, Vengine matches candidates with companies where they fit best, and in turn gives companies analytics and insight into their brand image and recruiting strategy. Vengine plans on launching their mobile product early next year and is looking for partners to join their mission to revolutionize the way companies and candidates find each other.

Stayes (http://www.stayes.com): Stayes is both a web and app-based platform that connects unrented flats to consumers who are looking for long-term rentals. Consumers can rent rooms from as short as two weeks to more than a year with prices that are 60% lower than the traditional market. Stayes is rapidly growing since their launch in September 2014 and have received over 2,000 inquiries from Chinese customers. Stayes is currently based in Seoul, hosting and managing 71 rooms, and plans to expand globally in the near future.

N.thing (http://www.nthing.net): N.thing is committed to developing innovative IoT products that are designed to improve the quality of food consumption. N.thing's first product, Planty, is an Internet-connected garden pot that introduces a new smart way of living.

Planty provides an innovative and smart gardening experience to users through functions such as giving water remotely, analyzing data and user behavior collected from the device. People can gain access to agricultural data and a gardening community on Planty's mobile app, which is automatically and wirelessly connected to the pot. Planty will be launched on Kickstarter in January 2015.

Onnuri DMC: Onnuri DMC built a new data management platform for mobile advertising called Cross Target. Cross Target analyzes user behavior on mobile devices in order to provide the most relevant advertisement to users. They have built partnerships with top media agencies, Internet portals and other leading ad platforms in Korea. Onnuri DMC recently closed their Series A round from a leading venture capital firm in Korea.

BuyFi (http://www.buyfi.com): BuyFi, a provider of analytics, social media and marketing applications to small and mid sized businesses, continues to grow its base of payment processing partners. Latest to join is SilverEdge, a Colorado-based provider of turnkey business solutions, with over five thousand merchants under its portfolio. Since January 2014, BuyFi has seen the adoption of its business analytics application grow rapidly from 1,500 merchants to over 15,000 merchants currently.

BuyFi announces the availability of BeSocial, a social media monitoring and publishing application, on First Data's Clover point-of-sale system. First Data provides payment processing services to more than six million merchants worldwide.

SparkLabs is opening up applications for their 5^th batch. Startups from over 20 countries have applied and they've had participants from the U.S., Singapore, Japan, China and South Korea. Startups can apply here for their 5th batch which begins in March 2015.

About SparkLabs
SparkLabs is a startup accelerator founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs in South Korea. The focus will be on startup companies from the Internet, online gaming, mobile, e-commerce, digital media and healthcare sectors. The mentorship-driven program will be three months in length and provides funding, office space, a structure program and access to a top-tier network of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors and executives. SparkLabs seeks to contribute to and help develop South Korea and Asia's startup ecosystem. For more information, please visit www.sparklabs.co.kr

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