WeGO awards KRW 10 mln in prizes to Korean and German startups

October 1, 2019

SEOUL – The 30 finalist teams of the annual startup competition Citypreneurs gathered in Seoul today for the selection of this year’s winners.

As WeGO is a co-host of the joint initiative with Seoul and the UN, Secretary General Kyong-yul Lee presented awards to two of the winning teams. Korean startup DamoGO received a cash prize in the amount of KRW 7.5 million (approx. USD 6,300) for its mobile app service that connects food service vendors to consumers to facilitate the sale of surplus food to consumers seeking quality meals at discounted prices. Breeze Technologies, a German startup providing hyperlocal urban air quality data based on affordable sensors and other public and private data sources like satellites, was separately awarded a sponsorship package worth KRW 2.5 million (approx. USD 2,100) in business opportunities.

In addition to semi-final and final pitching, the one-day event included two panel discussions on how to strengthen the ecosystem, and monitor and measure the impact, of SDG-focused startups. In a first for Citypreneurs, Chief Innovation Officers from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sydney, and Tallinn were invited to see showcases by three previous winning teams, with the aim to expand the competition to other cities.

Urban Innovation Challenge: Citypreneurs is an international startup platform that seeks to build the capacity of young entrepreneurs to offer revenue generating solutions that help solve urban challenges, within the framework of the SDGs. In Seoul, the competition is co-hosted by WeGO and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA), Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul Digital Foundation, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

WeGO has been a co-host of the competition since 2018, through which it aspires to bring innovative startup solutions to urban problems to its members.