The prolonged effect of COVID-19 is quite harsh on economies; particularly, startups are facing severe consequences. There are fewer funding opportunities and difficulty in attracting investments. The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG), S. Korea has decided to support startups in such critical times with a total of KRW 10 billion or about $136 million “Comprehensive Package for Promoting Growth of Promising Start-ups.”
The financial package aims to help promising startups grow steadily. It will provide customized aid, such as commercialization, R&D, employment, and pioneering the market, so that the companies can grow into soon-to-be unicorns.
100 companies to get support
The SMG will select 100 “promising startups” of future growth engines, including the fourth industrial revolution, smart city and bio-medicine, that have accumulated investments from KRW 100 million to KRW 5 billion from domestic and foreign venture investment institutions since 2018 with support of up to KRW 100 million per company.
The “Comprehensive Package for Promoting Growth of Promising Start-ups” is not applicable for individual companies. Rather, a total of 100 companies will be selected by recommendations from private venture investment institutions that have invested in startups with high potential of growth.
The 100 selected companies will receive up to KRW 100 million about $ 136k for business support, which can be used for various essential areas, such as advancement of technology, commercialization, employment, and intellectual property applications at home and abroad.
Startups will get to network with investors
The SMG has plans to connect the selected companies for “Comprehensive Package for Promoting Growth for Promising Start-ups” with private investment institutions and Seoul Startup Hub to let them participate in programs for the growth of companies, such as business consulting, attracting sequential domestic and foreign investments, and global market expansion. The SMG will make promising startups grow into soon-to-be unicorns through this concentrated support to benefit from the national government’s soon-to-be unicorn support program.
