[By NBC-1TV H. J Yook]SparkLabs (www.sparklabs.co.kr), a startup accelerator in Korea, has selected its second class of companies. The companies range from subscription e-commerce to productivity applications to search, and from bootstrapped financing to those who raised a Series A round.

“Our second class reflects the momentum and interest SparkLabs has generated outside of Korea. Included in our ten companies is TrakInvest from Singapore, which is an online equities trading platform, and Megaphone from the U.S. (NYC), which is an innovative participation TV platform that we believe has potential not only in the U.S. but in Asia,” explained Eugene Kim, a principal at SparkLabs.

Additionally, SparkLabs is organizing and hosting their first annual conference on innovation and technology called NEXT (http://www.nextconference.co.kr). The event will be held in Seoul on June 14th bringing in such speakers as Ray Ozzie (Founder & CEO of Talko), Richard Florida (author of “The Rise of the Creative Class,” Esquire's “The Best and the Brightest”), Maria G. Gotsch (President & CEO of Partnership Fund for New York City), and Jonathan Levine (CIO & Vice CTO of Rakuten Group).

“We wanted to create a program or event that would not only benefit our entrepreneurs, but the greater ecosystem in Korea and Asia. This is what led us to launch NEXT and gather the leading innovators, thinkers and entrepreneurs in the world to Seoul, so other entrepreneurs, corporate leaders and influencers across various industries could benefit,” stated Bernard Moon, co-founder of SparkLabs.