Key players in the Cheonan startup ecosystem explored ways for mutual cooperation by touring local innovative manufacturing facilities.

The city of Cheonan announced that it held the 'C-STAR Insight Tour' on the 31st of last month to create collaboration opportunities and provide growth motivation for promising startups, startup support organizations, and private investors (AC·VC).

The Insight Tour, hosted and organized by the Cheonan Science and Technology Industry Promotion Agency, aims to promote corporate growth by broadening insights through on-site visits (Tour) to companies with innovative manufacturing facilities.

The event was attended by Cheonan Mayor Park Sang-don, Hoseo University Vice President Lee Jong-won, startup support organizations including the Cheonan Science and Technology Industry Promotion Agency, 14 C-STAR companies, and 7 private investment firms (AC·VC).

They visited Lab to Bottle, Jenics, and Power Auto Robotics, C-STAR companies with innovative manufacturing facilities, and created opportunities for collaboration and growth among companies through a networking event.

Lab to Bottle, the first company visited, is the industry's only technology-based brewing startup. It has maximized fermentation and aging efficiency based on innovative technology and won a bronze medal at the '2024 UK IWSC', one of the world's top three liquor competitions.

Its flagship product, 'pearfect', is a distilled spirit made using 'Seonghwan pears', a specialty product of Cheonan, and promotes continuous mutual growth with local farmers.

Attendees toured Lab to Bottle's distillery, the largest in the region, and received explanations about the product manufacturing process.

The second company visited, Jenics, develops artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous driving-based logistics automation robots and collaborates with numerous large corporations. It was the first C-STAR company to go public (IPO) in October last year.

Attendees experienced the system of an innovative technology manufacturing plant by observing demonstrations of logistics robots.

Finally, Power Auto Robotics, a startup that manufactures artificial intelligence (AI)-based parts assembly robots tailored to customer needs, was visited. Attendees benchmarked the direction for startups with manufacturing facilities to move forward.

Afterward, companies, investors, and support organizations had time to exchange technology cooperation and information through a networking event.

Cheonan Mayor Park Sang-don said, "Visiting the sites of future unicorn companies with key players in the startup ecosystem makes me look forward to the growth of Cheonan's startup ecosystem in the future. We will continue to promote various policies to provide technology cooperation opportunities for startups and create synergy by motivating growth."

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