CES 2026: Seoul’s startup matchmaker heads to Las Vegas

SEOUL: Forget speed dating. Seoul is bringing speed pitching to Las Vegas. The Seoul Business Agency, the city government’s startup wingman, is rolling out the red carpet at CES 2026 with its “Global Innovation Forum”—a souped-up version of last year’s debut that aims to turn tech exhibition wandering into actual business deals. Think of it as Tinder for startups, minus the awkward small talk.

The forum is Seoul’s attempt to answer a perennial question: how do you turn expensive trade show participation into something more than branded tote bags and jetlag? Their solution: gather promising tech firms from seven countries, throw them into a pitching ring with venture capitalists and media, then see who emerges with funding and headlines. It is brazenly transactional, which is precisely the point.

Last year’s “Seoul Innovation Forum” brought together five national pavilions—Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Taiwan and South Korea—in what amounted to a diplomatic experiment in startup speed-networking. It worked well enough that Seoul has expanded the guest list for 2026. Now,  Taiwan Tech Arena, Switzerland Global Enterprise, Israel Economic and Trade Office, Japan External Trade Organization, Québec’s government office, and Business France are all piling in. That is a lot of acronyms chasing the same dream: turning their scrappy startups into global players.

The centrepiece remains the IR pitching competition, now turbocharged with a judging panel that combines global media reach and hard-nosed venture capital scrutiny. Gone are the days of polite applause and vague promises of “keeping in touch.” This year, startups pitch for actual money—$3,000 for the grand prize, $2,000 for second place, and $1,000 for third—alongside trophies and, more importantly, potential investment connections. The categories are suitably grandiose: Grand Award, Scale-up Award, and Impact Award. Because if you are going to hand out prizes, you might as well make them sound impressive.

Each participating country gets to showcase its finest tech hopefuls before a crowd of investors and journalists prowling the CES floor. The competition promises “tangible outcomes beyond simple promotion”—code for “we are actually trying to get you funded, not just featured.” Whether that materialises depends on the quality of the pitches and the appetite of the VCs, but Seoul is betting that concentrated dealmaking beats aimless booth-hopping.

Beyond the main event, the forum will host panel discussions where representatives from each country swap notes on startup support strategies and ecosystem trends. Translation: bureaucrats comparing notes on what works and what does not, which could prove useful if anyone is paying attention. Then comes the networking session, where the real business happens—over canapés and coffee, naturally.

Seoul Business Agency president and chief executive Hyunwoo Kim has lofty ambitions. He wants the forum to become “a representative collaboration model that connects the global startup ecosystem into one through CES.” That is Silicon Valley-speak for creating an annual fixture where Seoul plays kingmaker. Whether the forum becomes indispensable or just another CES side-show depends on one thing: do startups actually land deals, or do they just collect business cards?

For now, Seoul is doing what ambitious cities do—using a massive global stage to punch above its weight. The Global Innovation Forum may not revolutionise startup diplomacy, but if it helps a few clever firms secure funding and partnerships, it will have done its job. And if Seoul cements itself as the connective tissue of the global startup circus? Even better. Place your bets, startups. Vegas awaits.