Mobile Startups Korea 2012 – Looking for Superstar M
Competition to be broadcasted live on channel M-Money and TV-ing 
On the 31st of May, mobile startups competition ‘Mobile Startups Korea 2012 Superstar M’ will be held in Seoul Plaza Hotel and 50 teams from the best startups will be joining the competition. After the preliminaries, 7 teams will be selected to form ‘Superstar M7’and they will compete for the top spot.
One of the special features of this year’s competition is that many of these ventures are related to Social Network Services (SNS). Last year, there were more ventures focusing on mobile web or applications, but this year, SNS-related ventures are the majority.
SNS services relating to music, fashion, books, hairstyles and social dating were offered by 15 teams in total. In particular, there are many ventures that specializes in social dating, proving the popularity of such services these days.
In addition, local startups are starting to venture into mobile membership services (point card, coupon model), content curation services, crowd sourcing (funding), media platform and social translation etc which are currently receiving a lot of attention overseas.
Besides the aforementioned services, there are teams specializing in services that include integrating free wifi with advertisements, fitness applications, advertisement solutions, F&B services etc.
The teams’ backgrounds and past experiences are also varied. There are startups whose mobile applications have surpassed 20 million downloads in the Android Market and those that have received top prizes in overseas competitions. The teams include new ventures and also those who already have 3-5 years of experience in the industry.
‘There are teams that have already received recognition in other competitions and those whose brand names are already well known in the market. This has created fierce competition in the preliminary rounds.’
– Myung Seungeun, CEO of VentureSquare
The 10 member team comprising of Go Venture’s CEO Ko Young Ha and ABLAR Company’s CEO No Jeong Seok and 8 others will be judging the 50 teams and the results for the top 7 teams (Superstar M7) is expected to be announced on the 14th of May through the paper edition of Maeil Business Newspaper (MBN). Superstar M7 will be participating in ‘JumpUp Camp’, a 2D1N camp on the 18th and 19th of May, in the CheongShim International Youth Center in
Gapyeong , Gyeongi-do Province.