3.3 Trillion Won Applied for 'Motae Fund' Investment... "Review by Next Month"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daeseop] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 18th that 226 funds, totaling approximately 3.3 trillion KRW, have applied for the '2020 Mothae Fund Investment Project.'

The competition rate based on the Mothae Fund investment amount is 3 to 1. This is more than double last year's first project competition rate of 1.4 to 1. The Mothae Fund plans to invest about 1.1 trillion KRW from the application demand. When private funds are added to the Mothae Fund investment, the final venture fund formation is expected to exceed 2.3 trillion KRW.

Venture capitalists are actively forming funds in response to the increased investment demand due to technological advancements in Fourth Industrial Revolution fields such as healthcare and artificial intelligence (AI). Venture investment in Fourth Industrial Revolution fields recorded 1.7 trillion KRW last year, a 27% increase compared to 1.3 trillion KRW the previous year.

By sector, about 1.9 trillion KRW was applied for startup funds such as early-stage startups and youth entrepreneurship, recording a competition rate of 4.2 to 1. The Jump-up Fund, which supports follow-up growth after the post-startup leap stage, received applications totaling 731 billion KRW. In fields such as culture and film, investment requests amounting to 749.2 billion KRW were received, recording a competition rate of 2.6 to 1.

Kim Jusik, head of the Venture Investment Division at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "As the difficulties felt by companies on the ground due to COVID-19 are significant, it is more important than ever to ensure that investment funds are supplied to companies quickly. We will focus on the possibility of early fund formation during evaluation and complete the review by the end of April to ensure swift investment proceeds."

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