Mercedes-Benz Korea signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Dec. 12 with the Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development (KISED) to strengthen global support for domestic startups on the operation of 'Around X (Around X).
'Around X' is a global corporate collaboration program run by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development (KISED) that collaborates with global leading companies to support the growth and overseas expansion of domestic startups.
This 'Around X' cooperation MOU was signed during the official schedule of the global startup festival Comeup 2025, held at COEX in Seoul from Dec. 10 to Dec. 12, and the signing ceremony was attended by No Yong-seok, first vice minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups; Yoo Jong-pil, president of the Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development (KISED); and Kim Hong-joong, executive director of external affairs at Mercedes-Benz Korea.
Under this agreement, Mercedes-Benz Korea will participate as a partner in 'Around X' starting next year, and will link its open innovation program Startup Autobahn Korea with 'Around X.' Participating startups will be able to further strengthen support systems for proof of concept (PoC) design, mentoring, commercialization verification and overseas networking based on government project funding and specialized programs.
Matthias Veitl, chief executive of Mercedes-Benz Korea, said the 'Around X' agreement will provide an opportunity for promising domestic startups to further strengthen their global expansion base through linkage with national support systems, and said the demonstration of domestic startups' technologies on the global stage will create a larger foundation to discover new cooperation opportunities in future mobility, so the company will continue to expand cooperation opportunities with innovative startups and actively support them.
In addition, Mercedes-Benz Korea held an Expo Day at the Comeup 2025 venue on Dec. 11 to share the 2025 operational results of Startup Autobahn Korea and the project development outcomes of five domestic innovative startups selected this year. Expo Day was scheduled as an official program of Comeup 2025, providing a broader opportunity to communicate and network with more government agencies, global corporations, venture capital firms (VCs) and domestic and international startup ecosystem stakeholders.
Startups participating in Startup Autobahn Korea were selected after project pitching and evaluation in Sept. and then underwent about 100 days of regular mentoring with industry experts and engineers, technical support and validation through various acceleration programs. Among them, Perseus and Knotters drew attention for solutions that can enhance customer interaction and experience based on the maturity and scalability of technologies related to business automation and digital marketing. In addition, Cogcom, TAMS and To the Moon participated to share cases of technology application and future commercialization directions.
SIZL, one of the companies that participated in Startup Autobahn Korea in 2023, attracted investment worth 23.7 billion won with AI-based manufacturing technology and is pursuing global expansion. Since its first domestic launch in 2020, Startup Autobahn Korea has supported a total of 58 companies to date and has provided opportunities such as participation in the headquarters' Startup Autobahn program and overseas visits to more than 20 other corporations, helping to develop global capabilities and discover collaboration opportunities.
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