Samsung announced that it will lead 15 startups from its C-Lab incubation program to CES 2026, covering the hottest AI, robotics, and digital health technologies. This year, the C-Lab teams have performed exceptionally well, winning a total of 17 CES 2026 Innovation Awards, with two companies that spun off from Samsung winning the "Best of Innovation" award.
Expanding lineup: from internal staff to fintech and local startups
Since its launch in 2012, Samsung's C-Lab program has incubated 959 startups. The 15 startups exhibiting this year represent a diverse range of companies:
• C-Lab Outside (External Growth):A total of 8 companies were included, 7 of which were "local startups" from Daegu, Gwangju, and Gyeongbuk, setting a new record.
• Samsung Financial C-Lab Outside (Financial Incubation):A total of four companies were represented, marking the first time Samsung has brought startups from its financial network to the CES stage.
• C-Lab Inside (Internal Incubation):There are two projects, both innovations proposed by Samsung employees.
• Joint development: One (in cooperation with the Daegu Creative Economy Innovation Center).
Focus Team: AI Heals Mind and Body, Plastic Recycling Can Win Awards
Among the exhibitors this year, the application of AI technology remains dominant, but it is also being combined with more ESG and digital wellness elements:
• Repla (Gyeongbuk):This startup, which focuses on plastic recycling, won the CES 2026 Innovation Award for its plastic composition analysis device, "Puri-Checker".
• Stress Solution (Gyeongbuk):Use AI to generate personalized voice solutions to relieve psychological stress.
• Univa (Daegu):Develop on-device multimodal large-scale language model solutions to keep up with the trend of edge AI computing.
• Deepscent (Gwangju):AI-driven digital fragrance solutions can customize scents for different spaces.
Samsung's internal C-Lab Inside showcased two AI applications: ChronoMix (an object-centric AI video synthesis technology) and EZ Reco (an electronic product recommendation platform based on generative AI).
Fintech companies participated for the first time at the exhibition, with cybersecurity and fraud prevention becoming prominent topics.
The Samsung Financial C-Lab team, which joined for the first time this year, brought AI solutions for the financial field:
• Pillsang (Samsung Securities):Real-time phishing scam detection using on-device AI.
• WINNING.I (Samsung Card):Next-generation eKYC technology that combines fingerprint and facial recognition.
C-Lab becomes a touchstone for verifying "regional balance" and "AI implementation".
This year's exhibitor list for Samsung C-Lab reveals two strong signals.
The first is "decentralization". Since 2023, Samsung has expanded C-Lab Outside to cities outside Seoul. This year, as many as 7 local startups participated in the exhibition, which proves that the Korean technology industry is working hard to break the phenomenon of resources being concentrated in the capital area, allowing startups in Daegu, Gwangju and other places to go global through Samsung's resources.
The second theme is "Practical Applications of AI". Unlike the fantastical meta-universe concepts of the past few years, this year's topics, such as "AI Fraud Prevention", "AI Plastic Recycling", and "AI Pet Diagnosis", emphasize solving specific pain points in real life.
Furthermore, the fact that MangoSlab and StudioLab, two "graduates," won the Best Innovation Award once again proves that Samsung's "internal entrepreneurship -> independent portal" mechanism can indeed cultivate unicorn potential stocks with international competitiveness.
