Sales of Youth Startup School Graduates Exceed 2.6 Trillion Won

Trained 4,000 People in 8 Years Since Establishment
10,163 Intellectual Property Rights Held

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daeseop] The Youth Startup Academy, established to nurture innovative young entrepreneurs, has trained over 4,000 CEOs in eight years and achieved cumulative sales exceeding 2 trillion KRW.

According to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Small and Medium Business Corporation as of the end of November last year, the cumulative sales generated by 3,815 graduates of the Youth Startup Academy through startups amounted to 2.6588 trillion KRW. This resulted in the creation of 10,312 jobs. The intellectual property rights held by graduate companies reached 11,163 cases.

The Youth Startup Academy was created by the government to select young entrepreneurs and provide comprehensive support throughout the entire startup process, from planning to commercialization. It has been operating since 2011. The academy has been established in 17 regions nationwide to cultivate young CEOs.

The Youth Startup Academy has established itself as a hub for young technology startups. Representative companies that have grown through this program include Viva Republica, well known for the financial platform "Toss," and Zigbang, a real estate transaction platform. Viva Republica is a unicorn company (an unlisted startup valued at over 1 trillion KRW).

The Youth Startup Academy provides one-stop support for all startup stages to young entrepreneurs under the age of 39 who have started their businesses within the last three years. Selected entrepreneurs can receive up to 100 million KRW in startup commercialization support funds, covering up to 70% of their project costs. They also receive various supports necessary for early-stage startups, including office space, prototype production equipment infrastructure, startup education and coaching, and market development.

In particular, this year, to strengthen support for innovative startups among the youth, the academy will expand selection in manufacturing innovation fields such as the 4th industrial sector. Priority will be given to industries related to regional specialized (core) industries and cultural content sectors (about 30% of the recruitment quota). The Youth Startup Academy’s support budget for this year is 93.2 billion KRW, aiming to nurture 1,035 young entrepreneurs.

The Small and Medium Business Corporation is recruiting the largest number of entrants since the academy’s opening. The application period is from the 13th of this month until the 6th of next month.

Um Kihoon, Director of Startup Promotion at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "Youth startups are not only a source of new job creation but also a driving force to revitalize our economy. We will expand support so that many startups with innovative technologies can scale up through the Youth Startup Academy and grow into unicorn companies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.