-The 1st place taken by the ‘Collective’ team that developed the K-beauty e-commerce platform

Photo: The 1st Korea-Arab Startup Pitch Competition was attended by Christopher Koo, President of Korea-Arab Society (front row, middle), Arab Ambassadors and the winning teams. (Photo courtesy of Korea International Trade Association)

The final round of the Korea-Arab Startup Pitch Competition, co-hosted by Korea-Arab Society (KAS) and the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea and the S-OIL Science and Culture Foundation, was held at the COEX Startup Branch on 15 October (Friday). The first place was held by ‘Collective,’ a mixed Korean and Omani team that developed the K-beauty e-commerce platform.

The 'Collective' team is said to be targeting the Arab market in earnest with this victory and with the benefits it receives such as a startup prize of 20 million Korean Won as a prize, a presentation at the ‘Next Rise,’ the largest startup competition in Korea, and an opportunity to visit the EXPO 2020 Dubai.

In the final round and awards ceremony, Christopher Koo, President of Korea-Arab Society(KAS) and Chairman of the Korea International Trade Association, Bader Al-Awadi, Ambassador of Kuwait to Korea and Dean of the Arab Diplomatic Corps in Seoul, and other Arab Ambassadors attended to congratulate and proceed with the award.

This competition was held for the first time this year for young Korean and Arab startups residing in Korea or prospective founders who want to enter the Arab market. Of the 79 participating teams, 10 teams startup and idea divisions that went through preliminary rounds made presentations in the final round, and six teams were awarded the prize.

In the idea competition category, the KALU team, which presented ideas for Korean language education and the development of Korea-Arab social network applications using Metaverse, took first place.

In addition, '3endy' and 'yarab' teams, which presented smart online platform ideas for used car parts trading and cosmetics online application platform ideas, were selected for the second and third place in the idea category, respectively. In the startup category, 'PNP Planning Co., Ltd.,' which presented a genuine K-brand online commerce platform won second place, and 'Lonely night,' which presented the K-pop fandom platform idea took third place.