SONGDO, SOUTH KOREA--(Marketwired - October 19, 2016) - SparkLabs IoT program (http://www.sparklabsiot.com) is opening its doors on November 16th, 2016 with the support of South Korea's President Park's innovation center initiative, Songdo International Business District, Cisco Innovation Center in Songdo, Syntrend in Taipei and other partners.
Alex Namkung, Director of SparkLabs' new IoT program explained, "It took a lot of coordination and some patience to work with the various entities involved, but I'm excited that we are ready to launch. The SparkLabs IOT Program represents an unprecedented opportunity where IoT startups can test and deploy in the world's first smart city, in the world's most connected country."
The program will run from November 16th to April 19th and each company will receive up to $50,000 in investment along with free office space and numerous perks. The early entrants into the program reflect the wide range of technologies related to the Internet of Things and smart cities. There are some consumer hardware startups, but the majority are related to building more intelligent cities, improving industrial operations and applying cutting edge technologies, such as computer vision and artificial intelligence, to enterprises. A few of the early entrants are:
Augmented Knowledge (Seoul)
Augmented Knowledge is an augmented reality (AR) solutions company currently focused on the airline and machinery maintenance industries. The company's flagship product revolutionizes aircraft maintenance through the use of its patented image recognition technology and real-time AR visualization of mechanical parts and the work environment. Sparklabs IoT is helping them enter the U.S. market and other targeted markets.
Falkonry (Santa Clara, CA)
Falkonry is artificial intelligence in a box without the need for a data scientist. They seek to extract value from data of industrial operations, IT and IoT that was previously 99% untapped. Already integrates directly with Splunk, OSISoft PI, and Azure IoT Suite. They have a seasoned team with founders from Extricity (acquired by Peregrine Systems) and Ribbit (acquired by British Telecom) as part of their core team.
Blue Marine Technologies (Seoul)
BMT (Blue Marine Technologies) is a smart street lighting company that builds smart city lighting infrastructure. The company is installing their IOT street lamps in Korea and other parts of Asia. Using a high-insulation, low-cost ceramic coating on their lamp poles, BMT's smart lighting product significantly reduces costs and greenhouse gas emissions while improving public safety and providing a wide range of sensor-generated data.
"I'm excited to be supporting the new innovations and companies that go through our IoT program. I know first-hand that startup life is not easy, so hopefully our guidance can make their path less difficult," said Charles Huang, Venture Partner and former COO of Leeo & Co-founder of Red Octane/Guitar Hero.
Mentors for the program are located across the globe and come from such companies as Cisco, SAP, IBM, Sphero, Samsung, Evrything, Verizon Ventures, Autodesk and others.
"I'm excited to have an incredible team and network to support our startups. From our venture partners, Kai Huang, Charles Huang, Carl Wescott and Jeffrey Guo. Carl is a serial entrepreneur from Silicon Valley and Jeff Guo brings his experience and network with some of the leading hardware manufacturers in the world. Kai and Charles have built a billion dollar franchise in Guitar Hero while learning about the pains of supply chain management. Also our honorary advisors are incredibly supportive, such as William Wang, who built a multi-billion dollar consumer electronics company. Teddy Zee and Martin Hartono who have been long-time supporters of SparkLabs. We are really appreciative of all of our mentors and advisors," stated Alex Namkung, Director of SparkLabs IoT accelerator.
Applications open today and interested startups can apply on this link here.
About SparkLabs IoT
Located in the world's first smart city, Songdo, SparkLabs' IoT Accelerator focuses on startups positioned where hardware and software converge, particularly in the IOT, smart home, infrastructure, and logistics sectors. Open to local and overseas startups, program participants can take advantage of Songdo as a development center and test bed, while also having access to local and global corporations, investors, and suppliers and manufacturers in the world's most connected country.
The mentorship-driven program will be five 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. For more information, please visit www.sparklabsiot.com
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Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHO_zkHPTaI
Contact Information:
Contact:
Bernard Moon
Co-founder
+1-650-454-5244
bernard@sparklabs.co.kr
