About Coupang
Coupang is a U.S.-based Fortune 150 technology company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CPNG). Starting out as a small startup, it has grown into one of the world’s leading e-commerce platforms, operating Coupang, Coupang Eats, Coupang Play, and Farfetch across South Korea, Taiwan, and 190+ countries and territories. At its core, Coupang believes the greatest force behind innovation is the effort and execution of founders and makers, and that belief shapes how it engages with the broader tech community.
Bringing hackseoul to Life with Coupang
hackseoul 2025 marked the second consecutive year Coupang partnered with AngelHack, the global leader in developer hackathons and innovation programs, to bring the event to Seoul. With AngelHack managing full end-to-end execution, Coupang showed up as a true strategic partner: setting the vision, sharing expertise, and engaging meaningfully with every team in the room.
The event was held on November 8 to 9, 2025, at Coupang’s headquarters at Tower730, Songpa-gu, Seoul. Over 24 hours, 120 developers, engineers, and designers came together to build AI-driven solutions with real startup potential. hackseoul is part of AngelHack’s hackglobal, The Global Hackathon Series spanning seven cities worldwide, with top teams advancing to the Grand Finals in Singapore.
Inside hackseoul 2025
AngelHack managed the full end-to-end execution of hackseoul 2025, from program design and participant experience to judging and ceremony. The theme was AI for Real-World Impact & Future Ventures, challenging teams to build AI-driven products with a clear path toward business impact in commerce, logistics, fintech, trust & safety, or creative AI.
The two-day program was built to give participants both the space and support to build well:
- Opening keynotes from Coupang leadership and Nodit gave teams direct insight into how a world-class technology company thinks about product, market gaps, and return on investment
- Mentor hours connected teams with practitioners from Twelve Labs, VESSL AI, LINER, Moloco, SOCAR, and more
- Pseudo Lab’s Expert Corner brought in AI specialists from NVIDIA, KRAFTON, kt ds, and SK On
- Two-stage judging ran a qualifier round on Day 2, followed by final pitches to a panel of senior Coupang engineers and principals
- Community mobilization through GDSC chapters, Blockchain at Yonsei, Ewha Chain, Korea University, and other university and developer partners helped draw Seoul’s broader tech ecosystem into the room
The results
The 24-hour sprint produced a range of ambitious, commercially-minded AI projects. The winning team Yorigo (요리고) built an AI service that turns any cooking video into a shoppable recipe, with Coupang-powered grocery integration adding perfectly portioned, cost-efficient ingredients to a cart in one tap.
The event brought together 120 participants competing for a ₩10,000,000 KRW prize pool, engaged a wide network of AI builders across Seoul’s university and developer ecosystem, and produced real startup potential. Yorigo advances to the hackglobal Grand Finals in Singapore, and Coupang’s Corporate Development Team will explore collaboration and investment opportunities with the team.
“Taking on the challenge of identifying and solving customer problems within a limited time is itself an incredibly valuable experience. Coupang is a company that is very conscious of breaking away from fixed assumptions and conventional thinking, and AngelHack has been the perfect strategic partner to bring that spirit to life through world-class hackathon execution. If events like this can play a role in supporting founders and makers, we would definitely be open to exploring different ways to get involved and collaborate.”
– Sangyeop Jung, Head of Corporate Development at Coupang
Final words
hackseoul 2025 is proof that corporate innovation and community-driven hackathons are stronger together. When the right partners align around a shared belief in founders and makers, the results speak for themselves.
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