CJ Selects 8 Startups for 'O!VentUs 7th Cohort'

CJ Group announced on the 27th that it has selected eight startup teams for the 7th cohort of its open innovation program, 'O!VentUs (Open + Venture + Us).'

O!VentUs is a program that discovers startups with innovative technologies and creative ideas, supporting joint commercialization with CJ affiliates through business verification (PoC) and acceleration. It is conducted in collaboration with the Seoul Center for Creative Economy & Innovation.

The selected startups include three in the 'Food & Bio' category (Dr. Diary, Needs, Pipe Tree Smart Farm), three in the 'Logistics' category (Omelet, Crossbeam, From D), and two in the 'Entertainment & Media' category (Ilmanbaekman, Simart). Six CJ affiliates—CJ CheilJedang, CJ Feed & Care, CJ Freshway, CJ Logistics (logistics/construction), CJ ENM, and CJ CGV—across seven divisions, are participating.

The 7th cohort of O!VentUs will pursue innovative tasks proposed by CJ affiliates based on the expertise of each startup, including health management platforms, AI-based industrial automation solutions, and automatic video production.

The eight teams selected for the 7th cohort of O!VentUs shared their future plans and schedules on the 26th and discussed business verification tasks with the collaborating CJ affiliates. From July, the selected startups will carry out their innovative tasks for about four months, with each receiving a business support fund of 10 million KRW.

Growth programs for the startups will also be conducted. CJ will provide professional consulting based on its capabilities, including PR and IR, and will hold 'CJ Connect Day,' where CJ Investment and CJ affiliates will review investment and business linkage possibilities.

At the end of October, a 'Demo Day' will be held to promote the innovative technologies and business models derived from the PoC and acceleration with the matched CJ affiliates, seeking investment attraction. Outstanding companies with differentiated solutions will establish continuous cooperative relationships through joint technology development and investment.

Kim Do-han, CEO of CJ Investment, said, "We hope this will be an opportunity to create innovative business models through collaboration between promising startups and CJ affiliates. We will support the mutual growth of CJ and startups through active open innovation."

Since 2019, O!VentUs has discovered 60 startup teams, with a linkage rate of nearly 30% after PoC.