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A start-up fair will be held at COEX, where all agri-food tech startups will participate.

The Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency announced on the 6th that the "2026 Agri-Food Tech Startup Expo (AFPRO 2026)" will be held at Hall C on the 3rd floor of COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul for three days from the 15th to the 17th.

The event, which will be held for the fourth time this year, will be hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and organized by the Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency, NH Nonghyup, and COEX. 195 technology-based agri-food startups and related organizations in the fields of agtech, foodtech, and green bio will participate. It is the largest exhibition in Korea where startups in the agri-food tech sector participate.

Innovative technologies, products, and services of Korea's leading agri-food tech startups will be unveiled through a total of 369 booths, and various side events for start-up managers, prospective entrepreneurs, and general visitors will be held simultaneously on several stages in the exhibition hall. The side events consist of investment attraction and business matching programs, start-up growth support programs such as overseas expansion and technology cooperation, and various networking events. The special hall will hold a variety of events that ordinary visitors will be interested in, including AX digital experiences.

The side events will be held on several stages installed inside the exhibition hall, including a grand stage, a connect stage, a scale-up stage, a business lounge, and a meet-up zone.

On the first day of the event, at 10 a.m. on the 15th, the official opening ceremony will be held at the Grand Stage with domestic and foreign guests attending to announce the start of the event. Then, on the first day, the Grand Stage will hold a Green Flag, or "Integrated Demo Day for Supporting Agricultural and Food Technology Start-up Accelerator Development Project" from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. This event was designed to showcase excellent start-up companies discovered and fostered through this year's Agricultural Food Technology Startup Accelerator Development Support Project and to expand investment and cooperation opportunities.

Eight outstanding start-ups to be introduced on this day are Iohamony (functional feed and nutrition products exclusively for special animals based on edible insect proteins), urban street (development and sales of side dish franchise business and agri-food PB products), Future F Biotech (development of functional biomaterials based on natural product fermentation process platform technology), Science (Korean beef genetic resource production and digital reproduction platform), Jumidang (customized F&B pairing content solution using AI-enhanced learning models), Thyssen Biopharmaceuticals (cultivation and biomaterials), DeepValo (high-voltage electric field-based water molecule activation pretreatment device).

On the same day, the Connect Stage will hold a "Seminar on Strategies to Enter Emerging Markets with the United Nations" organized by UNIDO ITPO Korea (UN Industrial Development Organization's Korea Investment Promotion Office). It is a place to provide strategies for agri-food startups to enter developing countries and local investment information. At 4 p.m. on the same stage, the "Next Bite: The Future of K-Food by AI" event will be held under the supervision of Samil Accounting Corporation. An introduction to practical AI that can be used by agri-food startups will be made.

In addition, at the scale-up stage, the Green Bio Industry Forum organized by the Agricultural Research & Extension Services will be held from 1:30 p.m. The current status of the creation of the five Green Bio venture campuses, development plans, and cases of leading Green Bio companies will be announced. At 4 p.m. at the same place, the "Brand & Marketing in the AI Era" event will be held under the supervision of the Go Venture Forum and the Gyeonggi Agricultural and Food Venture Start-up Center of the Agricultural Research & Extension Services. The event will consist of pre-branding and marketing consultations, special lectures by brand and marketing experts, sharing success stories, talk concerts, and networking.

At the business lounge, "Regional Hub Scale-Up Summit 2026" will be held at 1 p.m. under the auspices of the Korea Angel Investment Association to present IR for startups, investment reviews, awards for outstanding companies, one-on-one follow-up investment meet-ups and networking.

On the second day, the 16th, an "NH Investment Road Show to Boost Investment in Agricultural Food Funds" will be held at 10:30 a.m. at the Grand Stage to make IR announcements for agtech and food tech start-up investment institutions. Starting at 2 p.m., a "LG Electronics-linked agri-food technology briefing session" will be held under the auspices of the Agricultural Research & Extension Services to introduce special lectures by LG experts and promising patents for technology transfer from the National Horticultural Research and Extension Services to companies interested in technology transfer. From 5 p.m., the "Networking of Overseas missions to Korea" time will be held under the supervision of COEX.

On the same day, the Connect Stage will hold a "Farm and Food Venture Promotion Company Agricultural Materials Fair" organized by the Chungcheong Agricultural and Food Venture Startup Center from 10 a.m. Officials from large greenhouse construction companies, agricultural material distribution companies, and related organizations will participate in the meeting to introduce products from MDs and fostering companies, and match one-on-one consultations. The Agricultural Innovation Hub, which will be held from 3:30 p.m. under the auspices of the Agricultural Development Institute, will hold reverse pitching and technology protection seminars for large and medium-sized companies, large companies, and mid-sized companies participating in the agri-food win-win cooperation program. Reverse pitching refers to the startup proposing a customized collaboration plan based on the demand and support plan (POC, joint development, investment, etc.) when large corporations and others present collaboration demand and support plans to startups first.

At the scale-up stage, the "Farm Food Youth Venture Start-up Youth Talk Concert" will be held from 10 a.m. under the supervision of the Yeongnam Agricultural Food Venture Start-up Center, and the "2026 Global Accelerating Demo Day" will be held under the supervision of the Agricultural Research & Extension Service from 1:30 p.m. The event, in which investment companies, including 20 global acceleration support companies, participate in mock IR pitching for domestic and foreign investment companies and partners, will be held in English.

On the 17th of the last day, "Taste-Up Day" will be held at the Grand Stage from 10 a.m. under the supervision of the Honam Agricultural and Food Venture Start-up Center. This event is for general consumers who want to purchase products from companies participating in the booth. After the "AFPRO Awards" ceremony, which will be held from 2 p.m., a lucky draw will be held.

"The growth of technology-based agri-food startups will greatly help strengthen Korea's food security at a time when the environment surrounding agriculture, including climate change, is becoming increasingly difficult," said Lee Seok-hyung, head of the Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency. "We hope that this start-up fair will provide good insights for young people who dream of new challenges in the agri-food sector and good business opportunities for venture capitalists who want to discover new investment opportunities."