22 startups competed at the Value Up 2019 in November at the Summit Prugio in Seoul South Korea. I was asked to meet with some of the companies, and judge their products to see what new breakout stars are coming from South Korea.

I was joined by Aving News, Xiao Da (China), Café Du Geek (France) , VietnamPlus (Vietnam), MyFatPocket (Singapore), Teman Seoul (Indonesia), A Sing Di Dai Han ( Vietnamese YouTuber ), IT DongA, Byline Network, Beta News, and more, as we looked over the products.

Some of the companies I talked with included a stop smoking program that schedules your cigarettes, a mint that helps with curbing your smoking, a company that is making power transformers smarter, and a phone case that rips apart to reveal a smoke mask – to get you out of a house, subway, or other hazardous situation.

Leverpresso

My winner for the event was Leverpresso – a portable Espresso device. You can make your favorite flavors while on the road, or at home.

The device looks like a giant pill, but separates to the cup, a place to put the coffee, a tamper, and the lever, which water goes in to filter through.

You can make a single, or double shot while camping, in the office, or wherever you need the caffeine rush.

During the Break

We also got to hear from the rapping reporter, and watch a VR artist paint on the virtual canvas.

This was a great, small event that allowed me to see some of the awesome companies coming from South Korea.