457 K-Global Project Beneficiary Companies Show Increased Sales and Patent Applications

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Cho] The 'K-Global Project,' an ICT startup and venture support program by the Ministry of Science and ICT, has shown significant achievements last year, leading to double-digit growth in new employment, investment attraction, and patent applications among beneficiary companies. The sales of these companies increased by 36.5% compared to the previous year.

On the 17th, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced that the results were derived from a comprehensive management performance survey of 457 beneficiary companies of the 'K-Global Project' in 2019. To assess contributions to the industrial ecosystem, revenue models, growth potential, and securing proprietary technology, four indicators?employment status, sales, investment attraction, and patent applications?were compared to the previous year, all showing double-digit growth.

First, the number of employees working at beneficiary companies reached 5,612 at the end of last year, an increase of 1,625 (40.8%) compared to 3,987 the previous year. New employment was created in 336 companies, accounting for 73.5% of the beneficiary firms.

The total sales amounted to 452.3 billion KRW, up by 121 billion KRW (36.5%) from 331.3 billion KRW in 2018. Sales were generated in 86.7% (396 companies) of the beneficiary firms last year, a rise from 68.5% (313 companies) the previous year. Among total sales, overseas sales accounted for 72.8 billion KRW, approximately 16.1%.

Additionally, the 457 beneficiary companies successfully attracted 269.4 billion KRW in investments over the past year. This represents an increase of 118 billion KRW (77.9%) compared to 151.4 billion KRW the previous year. The number of companies that succeeded in attracting investments also rose by 43.7%, from 103 to 148 companies. This is seen as a result of the government’s efforts to foster an ICT venture investment environment, contributing to corporate growth.

Furthermore, the number of patent applications filed by beneficiary companies in 2019 was 1,364, an increase of 248 (22.2%) compared to 1,116 the previous year. 242 companies filed patents, a 33.0% increase from 182 companies in 2018, indicating that beneficiary companies recognize the importance of intellectual property rights and are striving to secure proprietary technologies.

There were also confirmed cases of companies achieving high growth successfully through business linkage support within the 'K-Global Project.'

Swit Korea, which provides the enterprise collaboration solution Swit, received support from the ‘ICT Promising Technology Development Support Project (2015)’ and the ‘K-Global Overseas Expansion Support Project (2018-2019),’ launching its service in the Americas in April last year. Subsequently, in August of the same year, it successfully attracted 6 billion KRW in investment from Korea Investment Partners and others.

Lemon Healthcare, a mobile healthcare platform company, also achieved success after participating in the ‘K-Global Startup Contest (2018)’ and being selected for the ‘SW High Growth Club 200 (2019)’ the following year. It opened services with NH Nonghyup Life Insurance (M-Care Quick Claim), Seoul National University Hospital (M-Care), and secured Series B investments amounting to 10.5 billion KRW from three companies within Shinhan Financial Group.

Choi Woo-hyuk, Director of the Information and Communication Industry Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, “In the Fourth Industrial Revolution, speed is more important than scale, and this trend presents a great opportunity for startups possessing innovative ICT technologies.” He added, “We will do our best to foster an ICT startup and venture ecosystem through solid support so that ICT technology-based startups can grow into high-growth companies, and these high-growth companies can accelerate beyond unicorns to become decacorn enterprises.”

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