Woori Financial Group has officially launched its Dino Lab Tech Cohort 1, opening a dedicated technology center in Gwanak-gu, Seoul. The new Dino Lab Tech Center is positioned as a practical collaboration venue where the financial group's real business challenges meet innovative startup technologies. Executive Vice President Ok Il-jin, Head of Digital Innovation, described the opening as a platform for tangible business value and practical support.
A Dedicated Hub for Deep-Tech Partnerships
Dino Lab, short for Digital Innovation Lab, is Woori Financial's startup accelerator program designed to help small startups grow into large, dinosaur-scale companies. It has identified and nurtured 231 companies so far, facilitating investments worth 503.9 billion won. The Tech Center serves as a hub for proof of concept projects and builds on a network that spans seven locations, including six in Korea and one in Hanoi, Vietnam.
How the Challenge-First Model Works
The center's main differentiator is its challenge-first presentation model rather than the previous company-first approach. Woori Financial first defines technical challenges from frontline departments across its affiliates and then seeks startups capable of solving them. Participants receive up to 30 million won per challenge for proof of concept execution, 10 million won in cloud credits through Naver Cloud and Amazon Web Services, and workspace inside the center.
From PoC to Investment and Adoption
Collaboration follows five stages: challenge concretization, task specification and agreement, an approximately sixteen-week proof of concept, performance verification, and performance sharing. Companies with excellent results may be linked to actual technology adoption by Woori Financial affiliates and to fund investments. A follow-up system exists through the Dino Lab Fund III, a 20 billion won fund established last April, with follow-up investment from Woori Venture Partners and IPO support from Woori Investment & Securities.
Four AI Startups Join the First Cohort
For Tech Cohort 1, Woori Financial selected four artificial intelligence startups: Mentat, Axelerator, Walker Holdings, and Pikab Labs. They will be matched one-to-one with Woori Bank, Dongyang Life Insurance, Woori Investment & Securities, and Woori FIS to run proof of concept projects. The tasks cover asset management, research, market analysis, and business automation.
Banking and Insurance Use Cases
Mentat, a specialist in AI agent platforms for regulated industries, will work with Woori Bank's AI Data Business Division to create a tax-saving guide customized using tax law information. The solution combines legal knowledge graphs and an agent execution engine with customer asset and transaction data. Axelerator, an ontology-based AI platform company, will build an AI market sensing system with Dongyang Life Insurance by standardizing competitor terms and disclosures to generate dashboards with Impact Scores.
Securities and IT Automation Projects
Walker Holdings, which specializes in processing stock market source data, will develop an AI Research Analyst with Woori Investment & Securities to automate market condition summaries and report generation. Pikab Labs will pursue document automation with Woori FIS by connecting internal corporate documents and work systems. The project aims to integrate electronic approvals and emails into unified search and automatically generate proposals and reports, reducing writing time by more than 50 percent.
Leadership Commitment to Open Innovation
Executive Vice President Ok Il-jin emphasized that Woori Financial hopes the connection platform will help startup innovations reach a larger world. He added that the group will accompany these companies as symbiotic partners that think together and grow together. Ok also said Woori Financial will continue to expand productive finance by supporting the growth of AI startups.
With the launch of Dino Lab Tech Cohort 1, Woori Financial is accelerating its effort to connect artificial intelligence demand across banking, insurance, securities, and IT affiliates with early-stage technology companies. The challenge-first structure and practical proof of concept support aim to convert startup innovations into real financial services more quickly. The initiative reinforces the group's broader strategy to expand productive finance and build a sustainable open innovation ecosystem.