In fact, the number of mentions of CES has decreased not only on Reddit but also in various overseas communities. On the other hand, the stories about the achievements and promotions of companies at CES are getting bigger every year. CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is one of the world's three largest electronics exhibitions, has the longest history, and has always been at the forefront of innovation. Recently, Chosun Ilbo's slightly knowledgeable reporters covered this part, so I would like to talk about it.
Personally, the R1 was the most eye-catching during this CES. But unlike the numerous articles, posts, and mentions, it was Rabbit's R1 . But unfortunately, the R1 didn't win any awards. Why is that?
The reason is simple. R1 did not apply for the Innovation Award. What this means is that CES requires you to apply for an award after participating in a booth and paying for attendance. This application fee is a little over $1,000 when all the other things are added up. CES is actually a 'trade show', and the most important indicator is whether the event leads to investment attraction or actual product purchase. Rabbit has sold tens of thousands of units just by being revealed, and the first batch has sold out.
CES 2024 recently closed. A total of 134 domestic companies won innovation awards, which is 42.8% of all award-winning companies. Of these, 116 were small and medium-sized venture companies, which is the largest number ever. Excellent output was possible because there was a lot of input. A total of 772 domestic companies participated in CES 2024, the largest number ever. It was the third largest record after the US (1,148) and China (1,104) . However, when it comes to startups, Korea ranked first in the world with 512 companies . The US had 250, Japan had 44, and China had only 22.
It is known that about 15,000 of the 135,000 visitors during the event were Korean. The travel expenses per participant were about 15 million won, and if you add the cost of the booth and the event cost, it is estimated that more than 400 billion won was spent . During the four-day event, Koreans spent 100 billion won every day. Most of the costs related to startup booths were supported by the government and public institutions, and in the case of airfare and accommodation, there were many places that supported more than 50%, although it varied depending on the institution.
(syncopation)
There are almost no cases of receiving investment from overseas investment institutions. Most of the news about attracting investment is at the level of non-binding MOU. From the public perspective that invests a huge amount of money in the globalization of startups every year, the only achievement that can be shown in numbers is the CES Innovation Award. Experts say that sales of 5 billion and Series B or higher are the minimum requirements for challenging the global market.
However, when we checked the status of 77 startups that participated in CES 2024 this time by sampling, their average sales in 2022 were 630 million won, and the median was 0.5 million won. 26% had no sales at all, and 86% of the investment series was Series A or lower. It is difficult for small startups of this scale to achieve significant results overseas.
(continued)
According to the article above, it seems more serious than I feel... I think it's inevitable that CES becomes a festival for certain countries and companies due to the nature of the exhibition. (The criticism that it's a paradise for Korean and Chinese companies coming from the community... It's the same for MWC. Exhibitions inevitably cost a lot of money, so they have no choice but to receive a lot of sponsorships.) However, I think it's true that it's not cool anymore.
I think that startups (companies) and the government should focus on long-term overseas market entry strategies and business model building rather than focusing on short-term exhibition participation. Among the companies and products that have won awards at CES in the past, those that still receive a lot of attention are gradually disappearing. I think CES will change its operation method, but I hope that participating countries and participating companies will think again about the significance of this event.
Subscribe to 'haebom'
📚 Welcome to Haebom's archives. --- I post articles related to IT 💻, economy 💰, and humanities 🎭. If you are curious about my thoughts, perspectives or interests, please subscribe. Would you like to be notified when new articles are posted? 🔔 Yes, that means subscribe. haebom@kakao.com
%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F25214919%2FIMG_6029.JPG)
