In a market where investment in startups has been severely curtailed, new technology companies that leverage AI to provide specialized services and innovate manufacturing quality management are attracting attention from institutions as they seek investment.

Incheon Metropolitan City and Incheon Creative Economy Innovation Center (CEO Lee Han-seop) held an investor relations (IR) meeting on the 23rd at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul, to announce investment attraction business plans for startups selected for support in the second half of this year.

Five startups participated in the presentation that day, including DB Lab, AI Poppet, Applause, Intelis, and Augmented Intelligence.

Now in its fifth year, BigWave focuses on helping startups attract tangible investment by collaborating with investors from the initial selection stage and strengthening connections with global markets.

Lee Han-seop, CEO of the Incheon Center, said, "Along with the changing global investment landscape, the domestic investment market remains challenging. Big Wave's role is especially crucial in these times, and we are mobilizing all of the Center's capabilities to support the selected companies so they can write new success stories."

DVD Lab Innovates User Research with AI


First, the first presentation was given by Kang Ji-soo, CEO of DVD Lab, who introduced the brand panel system that revolutionizes the corporate research culture and the AI-based virtual user generation solution.

DVD Lab offers a 'Brand Panel' feature that allows companies to own their own panels, and through this, they are building AI-based synthetic consumer panels.

For example, it was revealed that the cost of interviewing taxi drivers was reduced from 6 million won to 300,000 won through collaboration with Kakao Mobility.

Currently, DVD Lab operates a panel of 70,000 people, and is utilized by various large corporations, financial institutions, and startups.

We plan to expand our global panel network, focusing on the Asian market, and aim to collect customer feedback within 48 hours.

AI Pet: Protecting Pet Health with AI


AI Poppet CEO Eun-ah Heo announced a veterinary-based AI real-time pet health analysis solution.

AI Pet has developed 'TT Care', which monitors the health of pets in real time using math-based AI technology.

This technology, which uses AI to analyze photos of pets' eyes, skin, teeth, and joints and notify of abnormalities, is the first of its kind in Korea. As a veterinary medical device software, it has also passed government approval and regulatory sandbox demonstration special cases.

AI Poppet provides medical assistance and home care services through its 'TT Care Vet' solution for veterinary hospitals and 'TT Care' solution for companion animals, and is expanding its business with the goal of entering 20 countries globally.

Currently, we are collaborating with KT, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Nonghyup, etc., and are providing services in 7 countries including the US, Brazil, and Malaysia.

We plan to grow into a global pet data bank by collecting AI clinical data and commerce information in the future.

■ Applause, play space with AI


Applause CEO Bae Jeong-jin introduced a space-customized content curation solution based on complex data.

Applause, a spinoff startup from Hyundai Motor Company that specializes in content platforms, automates music services optimized for store atmospheres by providing AI-curated and generated music based on spatial data.

Currently, the service is provided in approximately 16,000 spaces, and the paying customer retention rate is 84%.

We plan to expand into AI space solutions that integrate scent, sound, and brand experience for 3 million offline stores in the future.

We are targeting domestic and international markets through collaborations with Hyundai Motor Company, GS Engineering & Construction, KT, and others, and plan to grow into a global space content hub as a K-POP distribution channel..

Intelliz Innovates Manufacturing Quality Management with AI

Intelliz CEO Na Hyun-sik introduced a cloud-based machine vision inspection platform.

CEO Na Hyeon-sik said that he developed an inspection technology subscription platform that can be used at the level of one-person labor cost to solve the labor shortage and high cost problems of small and medium-sized manufacturing companies, and that Intelliz is an end-to-end company that possesses its own technology from inspection device hardware to AI engine and cloud platform, and has a track record of supplying inspection devices to major companies such as Samsung Electronics and Hansol Group.

He also mentioned that the company has secured price competitiveness by supplying equipment that was previously priced at 100 million won for 30 million won.

The company achieved sales of KRW 1.1 billion and operating profit of KRW 370 million in 2024, and aims to enter the global market through a subscription business model in the future.

Augmented Intelligence: "Aircraft Maintenance Training in 1.5 Seconds"


Augmented Intelligence CEO Cho Geun-sik announced an AI innovation platform that digitally transforms two-dimensional aviation manuals.br />
CEO Cho Geun-sik mentioned that he developed a solution to convert the existing education method that relied on paper manuals to digital twins, starting with an augmented reality-based aircraft maintenance training project that was launched in 2008 with research funding from Airbus.

This technology allows users to visualize maintenance manuals by displaying a medium-sized aircraft on a terminal in just 1-2 seconds, and learn maintenance by talking to the aircraft through Hololens.

Remote training is possible without an actual aircraft, and maintenance time is estimated to be reduced by 51% and learning speed is estimated to be three times faster.

The revision of the law has made it possible to replace internships, and the company currently holds around 30 global patents.

CEO Cho Geun-sik stated, “We will innovate maintenance training for all industries, including not only aviation but also weapons and submarines.”