Series Ventures Opens TIPS Bridge Programme for Startup Leap Package Firms

Series Ventures (시리즈벤처스) said on September 3 that it had held the kick-off event for its G-Start Up TIPS Bridge programme for companies taking part in the Startup Leap Package, a government-funded scale-up scheme run by the Gyeongnam Center for Creative Economy and Innovation.

The event, held on September 1, was arranged ahead of the start of the programme to explain how it will be run and what support it offers, and to check how far the participating companies have prepared. Chief executives and staff from the selected companies and officials from the administering bodies attended. It took place in the fourth-floor lounge of Series X, the incubation centre operated by Series Ventures.

The TIPS Bridge programme is designed to help companies at the scale-up stage strengthen their management footing and research and development capacity through technical upgrading rather than funding alone. It is run by Series Ventures, an operator of TIPS — the Tech Incubator Program for Startup, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' scheme that pairs private investment with public R&D money — based in Gyeongnam. The programme's stated goal is to build up each company's capacity to be selected for the ministry's TIPS programme and secure R&D funding. To that end it includes basic training for the startup stage along with a diagnostic review of each company's business. Later support will be broken down according to what that review finds.

The programme components are basic TIPS Universe training, TIPS consulting for each company, consulting on research and development plans, and a mock TIPS competition. Before the main programme began, the kick-off workshop on September 1 set out how the scheme will be run and what it covers, and included basic training on starting a company and on investment as well as a business-model diagnostic for each firm. The diagnostic reviewed each company's current business and produced a scale-up strategy from it. The exercise focused on examining future R&D plans and preparations for TIPS together.

Four companies are taking part, chosen as strong candidates for a TIPS application. Medical Solution System (메디칼솔루션시스템), Zero To One Dental Laboratory (제로투원치과기공소), Romantic Us (로맨틱어스) and Saegwang (세광) will receive support for about four months. Their projects differ: an automated gait-testing measurement system using 2D lidar sensors; a full-arch implant solution using patient-specific titanium jaw structures with a minimum number of fixtures; a vibrating razor for shaved heads that the company says cuts shaving time fourfold using what it describes as the world's only 360-degree rotating head and micro-vibration contour-response blade technology; and forest biomass development using wood decay fungi along with an evaluation tool for a field-tested management diagnostic kit. Series Ventures said it would continue support after the kick-off based on the individual support programmes, the companies' business status and the diagnostic findings.