Look, let's be honest, finding genuine innovation in the startup scene is usually a chore, but Smilegate Orange Planet Startup Foundation (Chairperson Kwon Oh-hyun) has officially announced on July 16 that it has picked 12 promising startup teams through its regular recruitment for the second half of 2026. These teams pack serious technical chops in deep tech fields set to drive future innovations, including digital healthcare, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI). Orange Planet plans to hook the chosen squads up with workspace, expert mentoring, and investment connections for comprehensive growth support.

In what the foundation calls a rigorous screening process, Orange Planet whittled down the final 12 teams through three phases: document evaluation, in-depth interviews, and presentation judgments. Eight teams joined the 'Orange Garden' programme, which backs pre-startup and early business stages, while four teams hopped into the 'Orange Farm' programme to prep for serious scale-ups. Notably, a hefty number of deep tech teams with original tech in preferred fields newly established this second half made the cut.

The chosen teams are V-Body (Neurobody Engine / V-Scanner), Seco Robotics (Real3D Gym), Eavom AI (Eavom FastEcho / ECG), Persly, Daidal Games (COGGS), Dadadak Healthcare (Dadadak), Sterry (Warrr), SteelCut, Sleebiz (Sellerbiz), Aristo Intelligence (Membase), Cheongbang Korea (Bee:nuvo), and Harper.

Orange Planet is throwing open the doors of its Gangnam Center to the chosen startups for up to a year, offering tailored expert mentoring and networking chances with veteran founders. Smilegate Investment, the trusty partner here, plans to prioritize reviewing early-stage investments of up to 500 million won for each team. On top of that, the foundation aims to actively help these early startups secure funding by linking them with the Tech Incubator Program for Startup (TIPS).

Seo Sang-bong, head of the Orange Planet Center, stated, "This second half, we focused on unearthing promising startups across not just traditional booming industries, but also deep tech fields destined to lead future innovations like medical, robotics, and AI. Orange Planet will act as a growth partner, helping startups with brilliant tech focus purely on leveling up their business and blossoming into global unicorns."

Founded on the social impact philosophy of Smilegate CVO Kwon Hyuk-bin, Orange Planet has nurtured over 450 startups across the last 12 years, watching the cumulative enterprise value of its alumni companies blast past 4.8 trillion won. Best of luck to the new batch, mate.