Samsung’s heading to CES 2026 with something a little different this year: 15 startups from its C-Lab innovation program, and for the first time, most of them aren’t from Seoul.
That might not sound like a big deal if you’re not familiar with South Korea’s tech scene, but it actually is. Korean innovation has historically been concentrated in Seoul, with startups from regional cities struggling to get the same resources, attention, and opportunities. Samsung’s bringing seven startups from places like Daegu, Gwangju, and Gyeongbuk province to CES—the largest showing of regional startups they’ve ever had—and it signals a real shift in how they’re thinking about where innovation happens.
The 15 startups will be at Eureka Park in the Venetian Expo from January 6-9, and they’re not just showing up to fill space. Between them, they’ve already won 17 CES Innovation Awards, including two Best of Innovation honors. We’re talking AI, robotics, digital health, fintech—a pretty diverse mix of technologies.
The Regional Innovation Play
Here’s why this matters: in most countries with strong tech industries, innovation clusters in one or two major cities. In Korea, that’s been Seoul. If you wanted funding, connections, or talent, you basically had to move there. Samsung’s C-Lab program has been trying to change that since 2023 by supporting startups in regional cities without requiring founders to uproot their lives.
“For a regional startup, collaborating with a global company like Samsung has been a valuable opportunity,” said Dong-eun Seo, CEO of Repla, one of the Gyeongbuk-based startups heading to CES. “Plastic recycling is a global challenge and CES provides an important platform to explore international market opportunities.”
Repla won a CES Innovation Award for Puri-Checker, a device that analyzes plastic composition ratios to improve recycling. It’s the kind of unglamorous but genuinely useful technology that might not get attention in the usual startup hype cycle, but could actually make a difference in solving real problems.
Other regional startups in the cohort include Stress Solution, which has an AI mental care sound platform; Deepscent, working on AI-powered digital scent solutions (yes, really); and Elevenliter, which does AI diagnostics for pet diseases. It’s a weird and interesting mix—not the typical “another AI chatbot” lineup you see at a lot of startup showcases.
Fintech Gets Its Moment
This year also marks the first time Samsung’s bringing startups from its Financial C-Lab Outside program to CES. Four fintech companies are making the trip: Selectstar with an AI evaluation platform, Datumo with cyber risk modeling, WINNING.I with biometric identity verification, and Pillsang with real-time phishing detection.
Fintech might not be as flashy as robots or AI assistants, but it’s arguably where some of the most practical innovation is happening right now. Phishing attacks are getting more sophisticated. Identity verification is a constant headache. Cyber risk is a massive concern for every company. If these startups have actually cracked those problems, that’s worth paying attention to.
There are also two startups from C-Lab Inside—Samsung’s internal venture program where employees can pitch projects and get them incubated. ChronoMix does AI-driven video composition, and EZ Reco handles electronics recommendations. Those feel more consumer-facing, which makes sense for CES.
What Samsung’s Actually Building Here
Since 2012, C-Lab has incubated around 959 projects and startups. That’s a lot. And since 2023, they’ve supported 40 regional startups specifically. The program offers workspace, consulting, and collaboration opportunities with Samsung’s various affiliates—basically giving startups access to resources and connections they’d have a hard time getting otherwise.
It’s not pure altruism. Samsung benefits from having a pipeline of innovative startups that might become acquisition targets, partners, or simply proof that the company is fostering the broader ecosystem. But it’s also a smarter approach than hoarding all the talent and innovation internally. Some of the best ideas come from people who don’t fit neatly into a corporate structure.
The regional focus is particularly smart. By supporting startups outside Seoul, Samsung is tapping into talent pools that might not otherwise participate in the startup ecosystem. A founder in Daegu who doesn’t want to move to Seoul now has a path forward. That expands the range of perspectives and experiences feeding into innovation, which generally leads to better, more diverse solutions.
CES as the Testing Ground
CES is a massive stage, and for these 15 startups, it’s a chance to prove they belong there. They’re competing for attention alongside huge tech companies and well-funded Silicon Valley startups. But they’ve got something those companies don’t: scrappiness, focus, and solutions to specific problems that bigger companies often overlook.
Whether it’s analyzing plastic for recycling, detecting phishing in real-time, or diagnosing pet diseases with AI, these startups are working on stuff that matters to real people and real businesses. They’re not chasing the next big hype cycle—they’re solving actual problems.
The question is whether the rest of the world is ready to pay attention to Korean startups that aren’t based in Seoul. If Samsung’s bet pays off, we might start seeing a lot more innovation coming out of places we’ve never heard of.
And honestly? That would be a good thing. The more distributed innovation becomes—geographically, culturally, and economically—the better our solutions tend to be.
So yeah, 15 startups at CES might not sound like much. But where they’re from, and what Samsung’s trying to build by supporting them? That’s actually kind of a big deal.