Kyndof Takes Grand Prize at Seoul Fashion Hub Demo Day

Kyndof, the company behind 2000Archives and led by chief executive Kim Seon-bin, has won the grand prize at Seoul Fashion Hub's demo day. Seoul Fashion Hub held FASHION HUB SCALE-UP 2024 for its resident companies on the 23rd at the Novotel Ambassador Seoul Dongdaemun in Jung-gu, Seoul.

Seoul Fashion Hub is a platform that provides comprehensive support for the founding and growth of early-stage companies, and the event was arranged to widen business opportunities for resident companies and connect them with investment. Nine resident companies pitched, and about 50 outside investors, including venture capital and accelerator firms, as well as figures from the fashion and distribution industries, attended.

The nine participants were Kyndof, Synecdoche, Unnormal, Ivanenets, Runecave, Acceptance Letter Studio, Momentscent, Sizemine and Island Studio, each given 10 minutes to present.

Each company delivered an IR pitch prepared through a program of one-on-one consulting and training held in advance to strengthen the participants' brand recognition and their readiness to attract investment, presenting to professional investment institutions and fashion industry figures. A separate networking session followed the pitches, giving the participating companies a chance to share their results, introduce their brands, build ties with investors and hear views from different investment fields.

The judging panel comprised six people: Nam Beom-il, chief executive of Triangle Partners; Lim Jong-gil, vice president of NextG Investment; Cho Yong-won, director at Nautilus Investment; Kang Ro-yun, team leader at Mark & Company; Kim Seong-uk, senior investment manager at Regent Partners; and Kim Ju-young, senior investment manager at Signite Partners.

After all the IR presentations, the judges awarded the grand prize to Kyndof, with Momentscent, which runs Limpidlab, taking the excellence award and Unnormal, which runs Unusue Unnormal, taking the merit award. Myung Yoo-seok, chairman of the Korea Fashion Designers Association, and vice-chair Kwak Hyun-joo joined the winners at the awards ceremony.

The winning companies are to receive additional support through follow-up investment programs. The organizers said they plan to run further support programs for resident companies, including collaborations that combine fashion with cultural content, to keep assisting their growth.

Myung Yoo-seok, chairman of the Korea Fashion Designers Association, which hosted the event, said: “I hope this event gave the participating companies an opportunity to communicate with professional investors and fashion industry experts and to help build K-fashion infrastructure.” He added: “Using this event as a stepping stone, we will build a fashion growth support platform that expands business opportunities for K-fashion startups and allows companies to grow continuously.”