Saudi’s HUMAIN Eyes Korea Expansion Amidst COMEUP 2025’s Show of Startup Force

Seoul’s COEX was buzzing this week as COMEUP 2025 threw open its doors, marking the seventh edition of what has quickly become one of Asia’s heavyweight startup festivals. I’ve seen my fair share of busy events across the MENA region through Arageek, and honestly, the scale of this one could make even seasoned founders stop in their tracks.

The festival runs for three days under the theme “Recode the Future”, which feels spot on considering how much talk there is lately about AI, deeptech and global expansion. Since kicking off in 2019, COMEUP has grown into a major meeting point for startups, investors and industry leaders from Korea and well beyond—no small feat in a space where competition for attention is pretty fierce.

Just ahead of the opening ceremony, Korea’s SME and Startups Minister Han Sung‑sook met Tareq Amin, the CEO of HUMAIN—Saudi Arabia’s AI powerhouse backed by the Public Investment Fund. HUMAIN only launched this May, but it’s already making waves with investments across the AI value chain, from next‑gen data centres to large language models. I reckon their ambition to make Saudi an AI hub is more than just talk. They’ve even been exploring partnerships with Korean deeptech firms and are considering setting up “HUMAIN Korea”, which says a lot about where they see future growth.

Their meeting was arranged as Amin was in town to deliver a keynote at the conference, and both sides used the opportunity to revisit ongoing cooperation and future opportunities. Korea's ministry also highlighted its push to support local startups entering the Middle East and thanked HUMAIN for actively joining this year’s Korea–Saudi support initiative. And believe it or not, the ministry has even published a full “Saudi Arabia Market Entry Guidebook” to help founders navigate everything from regulations to cultural nuances—quite handy for anyone eyeing Riyadh or NEOM.

The festival itself kicked off with a performance from Jinwoo Kim of LINER, one of Korea’s rising AI search startups recently named a pre‑unicorn. His message—“If AI predicts the future, startups rewrite it”—landed well with the crowd. It reminded me of so many early‑stage founders I’ve met who are trying, sometimes through a bit of a faff, to push industries into new territory.

COMEUP 2025 has pulled in startups from 46 countries, with 275 companies showcasing their products and solutions. Seven nations, including Saudi Arabia and India, have set up country pavilions to spotlight their ecosystems. On the conference side, keynotes came from HUMAIN’s Amin and Rebellions CEO Park Sung‑hyun, who returned for a second year to share his journey redefining innovation in AI chips.

The schedule for the next few days is packed: talks on the future of Android and Google Play, climate tech, Gen Z talent shaping Korea’s tech world, and even reflections from children of entrepreneurs on what startup life really looks like at home. I’ve always felt these side‑angles make a conference breathe a bit more—it’s not all pitch decks and KPIs, you know?

Global VCs, CVCs and accelerators have flown in, offering thousands of potential business‑matching sessions. Larger Korean corporates are present too, giving startups a chance to strike up conversations without needing to book everything in advance—something many early founders will be chuffed to bits about. The organisers say the goal is to move beyond networking for its own sake and push for real, measurable results.

Alongside the main event, several connected programmes are running: an awards ceremony for entrepreneurship contributors, the OpenData X AI Challenge for AI startups, the national “King of Kings” K‑Startup 2025 finals, and the Grand Challenge Demo Day for the top foreign‑founded startups in Korea. It’s a lot to take in, but that’s part of the charm… well, I mean, unless you’re trying to be everywhere at once.

During her opening remarks, Minister Han emphasised that this year's event is jointly hosted by key ecosystem bodies, noting that startups need investors, mentorship from experienced founders and government support to thrive. She added that COMEUP should serve as fertile ground for collaboration and that her ministry will continue acting as a committed backer so the “seeds planted at COMEUP 2025 can grow, bloom and eventually bear fruit.” A bit poetic, but the intention was clear.

With its “Recode the Future” slogan, this year’s festival is clearly positioning startups as the force pushing beyond old boundaries—industrial, national or otherwise. Whether all those promises turn into reality is anyone’s guess, but the energy inside COEX suggests people are definately ready to try.

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