Kibo Signs 'TECH Valley Guarantee' Agreement with Kwangwoon University

Expectations for High-Tech Startup Activation through Agreement with Leading Science and Engineering Universities

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Korea Technology Finance Corporation (Chairman Jeong Yun-mo, hereinafter referred to as Kibo) announced on the 9th that it signed a "Business Agreement for the Establishment of a University Technology Commercialization Support Platform (U-Tech Valley)" with Kwangwoon University (President Yu Ji-sang) to promote startups by technical talents such as professors and researchers. With this agreement, the number of U-Tech Valley partner universities has increased to a total of 68. In particular, through the agreement with Kwangwoon University, a traditional strong university in science and engineering, it is expected that technology startups through Kibo's Tech Valley platform will be further activated.

According to the agreement, Kwangwoon University will recommend excellent startup companies within the university to Kibo, and Kibo plans to provide comprehensive support not only in financial areas such as guarantees and investments for the recommended companies but also in non-financial areas including consulting, technology transfer, and support for initial public offerings (IPO). The "Tech Valley Guarantee" is a specialized guarantee support program introduced to support the commercialization of excellent technologies developed by universities and research institutes, and it is one of the key initiatives in the "Second Venture Boom Expansion Strategy" jointly announced by the government last year. It includes provisions such as offering a guarantee limit of up to 3 billion KRW to encourage outstanding talents such as professors and researchers to challenge and engage in startups.

Since last year, Kibo has been supporting the scale-up of supported companies by organizing networking opportunities with venture capitalists to assist Tech Valley-supported companies in attracting external investments. Additionally, Kibo has expanded the scale of support annually, providing a total guarantee limit of 460.2 billion KRW until last year, and plans to support 230 billion KRW this year. Chairman Jeong Yun-mo of Kibo stated, "We will continue to take the lead to ensure that university professors and researchers with excellent technologies can succeed in startups and technology commercialization."

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