This Month's TIPS: Trends in Innovative Companies, Key Technologies, and Future Solutions

The TIPS (Tech Incubator Program for Startup) program, hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, is becoming a gateway for innovative startups. Through the full support of the government and private investors, companies with high future growth potential are verifying their technological capabilities and taking a leap forward. Let's look at some of the startups selected through various tracks such as TIPS, Deep-tech TIPS, and Scale-up TIPS over the past month. First, **Pusely**, which uses AI to early predict the recurrence risk in cancer survivors, was selected for TIPS R&D with a recommendation from Antler Korea, securing up to 700 million KRW in R&D funds over two years. By advancing its AI prediction model based on patient self-reported data, it aims to help cancer survivors not miss the golden time for early treatment, reduce treatment costs, and improve survival rates. **ATOURS**, gaining attention as a game-changer in semiconductor cleaning, was selected for Deep-tech TIPS with a recommendation from POSTECH Holdings, receiving 1.5 billion KRW in R&D funds over three years. This company, founded by Professor Lee Seung-seop of KAIST, was recognized for its potential to revolutionize the yield and stability of ultra-fine semiconductor processes with its unique technology that mass-produces hydroxyl radicals without generating ozone. **Reinventing**, which developed the online CRM solution 'Litos', also made it onto TIPS. This solution, which encapsulates the know-how of CEO Kim Phil-jun, who served as a chief marketing officer at Samsung Electronics, Naver, Zigbang, and Trenbe for 20 years, plans to enter the global market by advancing AI-based customer data analysis and refining its automated purchase journey algorithms. **InCera Solution**, set to change the landscape of the space optical communication market, was selected for Scale-up TIPS R&D to develop a PAT (Pointing, Acquisition, Tracking) module, which is key to establishing laser links between satellites and ground stations. It achieves high performance while drastically reducing size and cost with an innovative prism-based design, and its space-environment-compatible FSM (Fast Steering Mirror), already successfully developed, is scheduled to be loaded onto the Nuri rocket's 5th launch in 2026. **The Yoonseul**, a reliable helper for SMEs dreaming of global market expansion, was selected for TIPS with a recommendation from BlissVine Ventures, receiving up to 800 million KRW over two years. It plans to minimize overseas expansion risks and increase efficiency for companies with its AI-based Export Integrated Operation (OP) solution 'Glohublink', and expand global customer touchpoints through its own overseas platform 'THE KATCH'. **Femtory**, a designer and manufacturer of optical communication modules, was selected for the Deep-tech TIPS R&D track, receiving up to 1.8 billion KRW. Recognized for its optical interconnection module technology capable of miniaturization and mass production based on MEMS manufacturing, it is expected to expand into other industries such as silicon photonics in the future. **Crosshub**, a leader in global identity verification services, was also selected for a Deep-tech TIPS R&D project, securing R&D support funds amounting to 4.6 billion KRW within just one year of its establishment. It has proven its technological capabilities through PoCs with major domestic financial institutions and revealed its ambition to rapidly expand its business areas beyond identity verification 'IDBlock' into global remittance, education, mobility, insurance, and more. Finally, **Multiscale Instrument (MSI)**, a manufacturer of atomic force microscopes critical to the next-generation semiconductor industry, was selected for Deep-tech TIPS. It provides non-contact, non-destructive measurement solutions with its self-developed 'quartz crystal oscillator' nanometer imaging technology, and will contribute to strengthening global competitiveness as essential high-reliability inspection equipment in increasingly finer semiconductor processes. As such, the startups selected through TIPS have completed preparations to lead South Korea's future growth engines with their unique technological capabilities and innovative visions in their respective fields, and their performance is highly anticipated.