Nine South Korean Startups Pitch for Spot at Disrupt 2027

Nine early-stage South Korean startups pitched their deep tech projects at the DETO 2026 technology conference in Seoul to secure a spot in next year's Startup Battlefield 200 competition at the Disrupt conference. These companies work across sectors including healthcare, fintech, energy, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence, with all nine aiming to expand into the U.S. market.

The Winner And Participants

Voinosis won the Seoul pitching competition with its artificial intelligence tool that detects changes in brain health by analyzing speech patterns like pitch, pauses, and response times in under five minutes. Founded by Grace Shin, Voinosis achieved 88 percent accuracy in a clinical study of 146 participants and is currently raising a Series A funding round. The other participating startups include Awesome Lab, which makes a water electrolysis heating system; Crosshub, an identity and payment verification platform; DeepFusion AI, a radar-based imaging system developer; EFLOW, a motor and actuator maker for robotics; Otition Medical, a medical device manufacturer; Riibotics, a warehouse automation deployment firm; Ternell, a semiconductor memory startup; and Testbank, an edtech company converting printed books into interactive digital apps.

Context

The Startup Battlefield 200 is an annual global competition that connects early-stage companies with venture capitalists and the international tech community. Participating in such events offers emerging technology firms a major platform to pitch their products and attract foreign strategic investment as they build international expansion strategies.