Woori Financial Group said Friday it selected 17 companies to join its startup incubation program, beefing up its effort to find new partners and accelerate digital transformation.

Established in 2019, “Dinno Lab” -- an abbreviation for “digital innovation lab” -- is a training program provided by the banking group to nurture tech startups.

From among 274 applications for this year’s program, startups from seven sectors, including ecommerce, blockchain, artificial intelligence, property tech and pet-related services, were picked as finalists.

Process mining tool developer Puzzle Data, pet insurance pricing app Petfins and art investment app Tessa were among those selected for this year‘s Dinno Lab program.

Starting from July, Woori Financial will provide all-around support for a year to the startups. This includes free office space, IT training and support from business and investment specialists.

An opportunity to work with Woori affiliates and to make a foray into the Southeast Asian market through Dinno Lab’s Vietnam branch will be given to the participants, the company said.

For instance, Woori Card, the credit card arm of Woori, introduced a secured loan product in May with a member of the Dinno Lab.

Meanwhile, Woori Financial Group has so far made direct investments worth 59.2 billion won ($53 million) into startups and adopted 18 business ideas from them to unleash the potential of partnerships.

By Kang Jae-eun (kang.jaeeun@heraldcorp.com)