The ASEAN-Korea Centre's exhibition booth at NextRise 2024 inside COEX in Seoul, Friday. Courtesy of ASEAN-Korea Centre

The ASEAN-Korea Centre showcased promising startups from the ASEAN region at NextRise 2024, one of Korea's largest global startup fairs. Organized by the Korea Development Bank (KDB) and the Korea International Trade Association, the event was held at COEX in Seoul on Thursday and Friday.

The ASEAN-Korea Centre spotlighted startups from the region at the fair, fostering exchanges and business opportunities between Korea and ASEAN through startup pitching, one-on-one business meetings and exhibitions.

The latest exhibition featured 30 startups from 10 ASEAN member states, all selected by their respective governments and alums of the ASEAN-Korea Startup Week 2023.

These startups represented diverse sectors, including artificial intelligence (AI), e-commerce, fintech, education platforms and pet care services. The exhibition also highlighted successful ASEAN startups and promoted the upcoming ASEAN-Korea Startup Innovation Week 2024.

Since 2018, the ASEAN-Korea Centre has organized the ASEAN-Korea Startup Week to nurture startups in the ASEAN region and foster cooperation with Korea. This year, the ASEAN-Korea Centre planned to scale up the program to ASEAN-Korea Startup Innovation Week, featuring fireside chat sessions and startup ecosystem tours to commemorate its 15th anniversary.

Among the highlights of NextRise 2024 was the participation of the four winners from the ASEAN-Korea Startup Week 2023.

Food Market Hub from Malaysia, the first-place winner, presented its innovative inventory and cost management system for food and beverage businesses. This system connects a curated supplier network and aims to drive zero food waste while streamlining back-end operations. Following its success, Food Market Hub expanded its business to Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan.

Other winners, including Teachmeguru from Brunei, ZumVet from Singapore and Genetica from Vietnam, also pitched their services at the event.

Teachmeguru provides hybrid education services, while ZumVet offers a telemedicine platform for veterinary care. Genetica delivers AI-enabled genetic testing services to the Asian market.

The ASEAN-Korea Startup Innovation Week 2024 is scheduled from September to October. This event will involve 30 early-stage startups from 10 ASEAN member states.