Ministry of SMEs and Startups Finalizes Recommendation of 98 Companies for Baby Unicorn Program

98 Companies Pass Second Round, Final Evaluation to Select 40 by June... '2.45 to 1 Competition Ratio'

Minister Park Young-sun of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is taking a commemorative photo with representatives of specially guaranteed companies before the Unicorn Company Talk Concert at Maru180 in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. 2019.7.11 / Photo by Ministry of SMEs and Startups

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development announced on the 16th that they conducted the second evaluation of the 'Baby Unicorn 200 Nurturing Project' and recommended 98 companies for the final evaluation.

The Baby Unicorn 200 Nurturing Project is a core initiative of the government's 'K-Unicorn Project,' with a total of 254 companies applying. Among them, 214 companies passed the eligibility review and the first on-site technical evaluation. The second evaluation involved a discussion-style document review by experts including venture investors, recommending 98 companies for the final evaluation, from which 40 companies will be ultimately selected in June.

By industry, startups in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and data, network, and artificial intelligence-based platform sectors accounted for the majority (50%, 49 companies). This was followed by the bio-health sector (29.6%, 29 companies) and general manufacturing and service sectors (20.4%, 20 companies). The average investment amount for the finally recommended companies was 4.7 billion KRW, with startups that raised between 2 billion KRW and 5 billion KRW investments (60.2%, 59 companies) being the most common, and 39 companies secured investments exceeding 5 billion KRW.

The final evaluation expert panel will include not only K-Unicorn supporters but also representatives from global companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Alibaba, Samsung, and Hyundai Motor, aiming to assess not only the technological innovation but also the potential for global market entry in a balanced manner.

Lee Okhyung, Director of Venture Innovation Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "With many promising ventures and startups applying, it was difficult to distinguish superiority as most applicants passed the first technical evaluation," adding, "The expert panel and the public jury will conduct a more rigorous evaluation together to select companies with high potential to grow into Korea's future unicorns."

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