New Album, Recruiting Startups for 'Innovation Icon 3rd Generation'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] The Korea Credit Guarantee Fund announced on the 14th that it will conduct an open recruitment for the selection of the third batch of the financial support program for innovative startups, 'Innovation Icon,' until the 3rd of next month.

KODIT operates the 'Innovation Icon Support Program,' a scale-up program that discovers innovative startups capable of growing into excellent mid-sized companies or global innovative enterprises and supports them with up to 10 billion KRW. Eligible companies are those engaged in new industries for more than 2 years and less than 10 years after establishment, meeting one of the following conditions: ▲ annual sales of 500 million KRW or more with an average sales growth rate of 10% or higher over two years ▲ attracting investment of 2 billion KRW or more from institutional investors.

KODIT provides selected companies with credit guarantees of up to 10 billion KRW over three years and applies the lowest guarantee fee rate (0.5%). Through partner banks, an additional interest rate reduction of 0.7 percentage points is also supported, significantly reducing companies' financial costs. Various non-financial services such as overseas expansion, technical consulting, and financial consulting are also provided.

Last year, KODIT selected 12 Innovation Icon companies through two rounds of public recruitment and provided a total of 75 billion KRW in credit guarantees. Customized non-financial services reflecting the characteristics of the selected companies, such as overseas expansion, labor consulting, and business linkage between companies, were also conducted. The 12 selected Innovation Icon companies saw a 95.9% increase in average monthly sales compared to before selection, and the employment growth rate reached 20.4%. Additionally, they attracted 83 billion KRW in follow-up private investment, and four companies are currently pursuing initial public offerings (IPOs).

KODIT has also laid the foundation for spreading a culture of performance sharing by agreeing to share outcomes in various ways such as job creation, incentive system introduction, investment in local companies, and mentoring if Innovation Icon companies achieve certain results in the future.

A KODIT official said, "The Innovation Icon Support Program, which supports the rapid growth of excellent startups, is showing good results and expanding its position within the innovation ecosystem. We will continue to provide maximum support so that Innovation Icon companies can grow into unicorns."

For more details, please visit the KODIT website or the government startup integrated portal 'K-Startup.'

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