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PIXEL, a startup operating a global micro-community service, announced on the 2nd that it has been selected for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' tech startup investment program 'TIPS', recommended by the Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation. TIPS is a representative tech startup scale-up program where private investment firms and the government jointly discover and support promising startups. Through this selection, PIXEL has been recognized for its innovation and technological prowess.

PIXEL operates a global micro-community service that supports over 80 languages across 176 countries worldwide, and for this, it has developed its own 'PIXELS App Builder'. The App Builder is a tool that allows anyone to easily create and operate micro-level communities, featuring multilingual localization and global launch within 24 hours.

With this TIPS selection, PIXEL will receive various forms of support over the next two years, planning to further develop core technologies such as A2A Operation System development and real-time translation performance enhancement, and to begin full-scale global market expansion. In addition to TIPS, PIXEL has achieved results such as being selected for 'KB Unicorn Club 5th Batch', an early-stage startup nurturing program organized by the Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation and KB Kookmin Bank, '2025 Seongnam-type TIPS', and as a tenant support company for Pangyo Gyeonggi Content Korea Lab.

Kim Seong-san, CEO of PIXEL, said, "The community market is growing around two major trends: globalization crossing borders and segmented micronization," and added, "Taking this TIPS selection as an opportunity, we will leap forward as an integrated App Builder platform that domestic and international client companies can utilize together." He continued, "We will prove our versatility and scalability to absorb the community building demand of not only domestic startups and SMEs but also overseas companies."

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"Confidence gained through support from KB Kookmin Bank and Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation"
"We will present a new communication method that surpasses Instagram"
"Social media services can no longer survive as 'domestic-only'."

Kim Seong-san, CEO of PIXEL and a former social media service planner in Korea, one day faced a wall of reality. It was a time when platforms that had been drawing a hot response were faltering, pushed aside by global big tech. He made a decision. He would create a social media service that could succeed on the global stage, even in Korea and with a small team.

PIXEL, the company he founded, has now launched 12 apps on various topics such as K-POP, Korean language, and religion, and has recorded 40,000 monthly active users (MAU) from over 100 countries.

CEO Kim said, "I want PIXEL to become a new communication method that resolves all barriers of language, region, etc.," and "We will leap forward as a global social service that surpasses Instagram and TikTok."

PIXEL's starting point began with CEO Kim's awareness of the problem. Before founding the company, he experienced the industry trends up close while planning social services at Naver, Kakao, and others. Services that were drawing a growth curve began to stagnate at some point, and the trend of being pushed aside by global platforms became clear.

The cause was in connectivity. While Instagram, TikTok, and others connected the whole world, domestic services faltered, unable to overcome language and cultural barriers. CEO Kim felt a sense of crisis. And so, he decided to create a social service with the global stage in mind from the very beginning, not just the domestic market.

CEO Kim, now in his second year of business, said, "So far, there hasn't been a moment where I felt it was overwhelmingly difficult." He added, "There were unfamiliar and embarrassing moments as a first-time founder, but I feel a sense of accomplishment by solving them with my colleagues," and "I spend every day as if I'm in a game where the rewards get bigger as you clear difficult missions."

The reward was given as if a game character was 'leveling up'. PIXEL was recently selected as a 'KB Unicorn Club' company, a support program for promising startups discovered and nurtured by KB Kookmin Bank and the Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation.

CEO Kim shared his feelings, saying, "I wonder if this is what an idol trainee feels like when they finally get to stand on stage." He revealed, "It might seem reckless for a small number of people in Korea to create a global social service, but it was a moment when I gained the belief that the PIXEL team could do it."

PIXEL is focusing on communication based on media using videos and images, while at the same time advancing the function of naturally translating multilingual messages using AI technology.

CEO Kim said, "We are developing it so that people who have gathered with common interests such as K-pop and Korean can interact more naturally through the medium of videos and images," and "In the future, we will focus on enriching communication between users by utilizing AI technology."

Although PIXEL is still in the early stages of growth, CEO Kim is paying attention to 'infinite scalability'. He is broadening his horizons by developing services not only for online communication with global users but also for foreigners visiting Korea.

He said, "We plan to collaborate in various ways so that PIXEL's community can grow in more diverse ways," and "I want to lead the trend of global transformation with those who have brilliant ideas and visions." He also made a plan to increase the MAU to 500,000 this year.

CEO Kim revealed that his dream is to grow PIXEL into a global representative social media platform operator that stands shoulder to shoulder with 'Meta', which operates Facebook and Instagram.

He emphasized, "We have created more than 10 global community services with a small number of people, and our goal is to release 100 valuable communities to the world in the future."

He continued, "We will present a new communication method that creates new relationships and allows people to interact with each other, especially by resolving existing barriers such as language, region, and disability."

Korea Investment Accelerator (hereafter Hanwha AC) has selected the final 11 companies to participate in its 'Barun Donghaeng 7th Batch' development program and has begun full-scale acceleration.

For this 7th batch, over 600 startups applied, demonstrating high market interest with a competitive ratio of approximately 55:1. The finally selected companies are composed of teams aiming to innovate various industrial sectors from a new perspective, including generative AI, digital healthcare, materials/parts/equipment, sustainable materials, and global platforms.

Through this selection, Hanwha AC plans to discover new business models that respond to the AI Transformation (AX) trend and provide practical, multi-faceted support necessary for these companies' global expansion and market entry. This direction is established on the belief that only teams with creative and leading technologies suitable for the current era of convergence between AI, deep tech, bio, and commerce can become companies that will lead industrial paradigm shifts beyond the domestic market to the global stage.

A common feature of the selected companies is their high strategic completeness, not only in simple technical skills but also in market entry strategy, global scalability, and the applicability of their technology. For example, Eskimo, Skon AI, and Datium are leading changes in the productivity tools market through SaaS based on recently highlighted AI agent and LLM application technologies.

On the other hand, Nanolattice, Waveshine Tech, and Circlro are deep-tech startups based on physical materials or sensors, securing differentiated competitiveness in areas with high technological barriers. This aligns with Korea Investment Accelerator's philosophy of 'technology-focused, market-realized'.

Furthermore, companies like PIXEL, Newlook, and Fixup clearly demonstrate a global orientation in B2C industries such as content, F&B, and healthcare. Despite being in their early stages, they are already securing overseas demand or beginning full-scale exports, raising expectations for future performance.

For about six months, Korea Investment Accelerator will provide growth support to these 11 companies, including immediate investment discussions upon selection, follow-up investment connections using the global investment network of Korea Investment Financial Group, priority support for global expansion networks, free provision of dedicated office space and co-working spaces near Samsung Station, 1:1 mentoring and joint business opportunities with domestic and international VCs and strategic partners, and practical market connections such as global demo days and IR sessions, as well as consulting for government support projects and providing customized commercialization strategies.

Baek Yeo-hyeon, CEO of Korea Investment Accelerator, stated, “In the flow of AI transformation, we will discover technology-oriented startups that will create an inflection point in the industry and strategically foster teams that can design technology, market, and global strategies simultaneously.”

Presentation evaluation for the selection of companies for KB Unicorn Club 5th Batch / Photo = Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation

The Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation announced on the 26th that it has selected 10 final companies for the 'KB Unicorn Club 5th Batch', an early-stage startup nurturing program in collaboration with KB Kookmin Bank. The selected companies include △Ubilab △PIXEL △Cancerbreaker △Dailypay △Sirinus △Clinkers △Textinum △Hex AI Labs △Forestjalan △Semi AI.

A total of 208 companies applied for this recruitment, recording a competition rate of 20.8 to 1. The companies were selected through a three-stage screening process consisting of document evaluation and presentation evaluation.

'KB Unicorn Club' is a program that discovers promising early-stage startups in new industrial fields and supports their scale-up through a life-cycle growth support system. The Gyeonggi Innovation Center and KB Kookmin Bank established the program in 2021 and have selected a cumulative total of 46 companies up to the 5th batch.

Selected companies are provided with opportunities for direct investment (around 100-300 million KRW), TIPS recommendation opportunities, customized acceleration, global expansion and open innovation linkage, and support for moving into open offices in Pangyo, Gyeonggi-do.

The Gyeonggi Innovation Center is scheduled to begin full-scale program operation starting with the 'KB Unicorn Club 5th Batch' kick-off meeting on May 28th, and plans to continue multi-faceted support for the growth of participating companies for about 7 months until December 2025.

An official from the Gyeonggi Innovation Center stated, "We will continue to provide diverse support so that early-stage companies with growth potential can secure competitiveness in domestic and international markets."

[Money Today Startup Media Platform Unicorn Factory]