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Alibaba.com CoCreate Pitch 2026 – Korea
🎤 Event Review
I attended Alibaba.com CoCreate Pitch 2026 – Korea
On August 25th, I attended the Alibaba.com CoCreate Pitch 2026 – Korea event.
CoCreate Pitch is a global pitching program hosted by Alibaba.com for global SMEs, startups, and entrepreneurs. This year, the program is being held in major cities including Seoul, Los Angeles, London, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur, and 12 companies from Korea were selected as finalists.
What made this event particularly interesting was that it was a bit different from typical startup IR events.
Although a diverse range of companies participated, from technology startups such as AI and robotics to pets, wearables, healthcare, and consumer goods, Commonly, the focus was on 'transforming technology or ideas into actual products and how to expand them into the global market.'
1. Alibaba.com's View of Global Commerce
Prior to the main pitching session, Marco Yang, Country Manager of Alibaba.com Korea, presented Alibaba.com's key achievements and global strategy. What was particularly impressive during the presentation was that Alibaba.com is expanding beyond a simple global B2B product trading platform into a platform that uses AI to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in everything from product sourcing to sales and store operations.
The Smart Assistant Agent (SAA) was introduced in this presentation.
While existing AI was closer to a 'tool' that answered sellers' input questions or assisted with specific tasks, Alibaba.com's SAA goes a step further, representing a concept akin to a 'store operations AI team' that understands sellers' goals and independently determines and executes necessary tasks. Based on sellers' store data, SAA supports market research, potential buyer identification, buyer analysis, product optimization, and store diagnosis. Going beyond simply providing market information, its structure supports the actual operational phase through large-scale product listings and image optimization, inquiry response (including follow-up contacts on days 3 to 7), potential buyer identification through demand analysis and RFQ screening, and store operation diagnosis covering the exposure, inquiry, and transaction conversion processes.
What was particularly interesting was that the AI did not provide standardized responses based on general data, but rather analyzed individual seller store data—such as traffic, products, inquiries, and RFQs—to offer customized diagnoses and answers. Furthermore, rather than a method where necessary functions are invoked individually, the system aimed for an agent-based approach where, upon a seller inputting "I want to achieve a certain goal," the AI determines the execution sequence, selects the required functions, and connects the process to task completion.
Ultimately, the direction Alibaba.com is pursuing goes beyond simply streamlining the Seller → AI Search/Translation → Buyer process, to,
It appeared to be close to a structure where the AI Agent supports the entire global B2B sales process, which includes market research → buyer search and analysis → product optimization → product registration → inquiry response → potential buyer identification → store diagnosis.
Personally, I felt that this aspect is also connected to the direction of this CoCreate Pitch.
For early-stage startups and SMEs entering the global market, simply creating a good product is not enough. It requires identifying overseas demand for specific products, securing suitable manufacturing and supply chains, registering products, finding potential buyers for sales, and completing the entire process of converting those efforts into actual transactions.
While in the past these tasks had to be performed by humans individually, Alibaba.com appeared to be aiming to streamline the global expansion process of small and medium-sized enterprises by combining the platform's global B2B transaction data with AI agents.
In that sense, this CoCreate Pitch is also not simply a competition to select startups with good ideas, but,
I was impressed by the opportunity to demonstrate how quickly Alibaba.com can execute through its global supply chain and AI infrastructure.
2. 12 Companies, Just 90 Seconds of Pitching
Following the introduction of the judges, the Final Pitch proceeded in earnest. A total of 12 companies were selected as Korean Finalists.
AidALL, BLUE APEX, BUNUCKLE, HERZGEH, PAWKTS, REFIL, Rovoroad, SciencePlus, SOA Tech, The Noble Healthcare, UUUUU, and Vtouch participated.
The interesting thing is that each company was given only 90 seconds to pitch . This is not enough time to explain everything from market size and business model to competitors and financial plans, as is typical with general IR.
Ultimately , it was important to clearly convey "what problem we discovered → what product solves it → and why our product is different" within 90 seconds .
3. Companies that were particularly memorable
SciencePlus – Solving Smart Ring Size Problems with Materials Technology
SciencePlus was one of the companies I found technically interesting at this event.
Since smart rings must be produced in various sizes because users have different finger thicknesses, this creates a burden regarding mold, SKU, and inventory management. SciencePlus has demonstrated an approach to solving this problem using a ring structure that utilizes shape-memory material technology .
By utilizing the characteristic of the material to deform to fit the user's finger and return to its original shape, a single product can accommodate a wider range of finger sizes. I viewed this with interest because, if this technology ensures sufficient deformation range and repeatability during actual mass production, it could lead to manufacturing advantages that go beyond simply being a "comfortable ring," thereby reducing the number of molds, SKUs, and inventory burdens .
It was a company that made me curious about whether it could expand its technology into smart rings and healthcare wearables in the future, starting with the K-Ring.
4. Networking after pitching
At the end of the event, a networking session followed, allowing for free conversation with participating companies and stakeholders.
We were able to discuss the actual structure and technology of the products, as well as current sales and business progress, which were difficult to verify through 90-second pitches alone. It was a valuable time, as we gained additional insights into the companies' differentiated competitive advantages and founding histories through Q&A. In particular, through networking, we were able to confirm Alibaba.com 's active commitment to supporting Korean startups in expanding their sales channels across Asia, the U.S., and Europe.
Concluding the event
The most impressive aspect of this CoCreate Pitch was that the boundary between technology companies and non-technology companies is becoming increasingly blurred.
Data is being utilized in pet shoes, AI and manufacturing technology are being incorporated into nail brands, and shape-memory materials are being applied to rings. Conversely, no matter how advanced the technology may be, it is difficult to generate business value if it fails to lower actual product costs, resolve user inconveniences, or create new reasons for purchase.
Ultimately, I came to the realization that what matters is not the presence or absence of technology, but rather "how the technology and products solve customer problems and whether the results lead to actual sales and global expansion." The Alibaba.com CoCreate Pitch 2026 – Korea was an opportunity to witness this process firsthand through various products and startup teams.
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