Gwanak-gu Establishes 20 Billion Won Startup Support Fund

Signing of the Charter and Inaugural General Meeting of the 'Smart Daehanminguk Mega Cheongnyeon Investment Association'... Building an Innovative Startup Ecosystem through Continuous Investment in Venture and Startup Companies Based on Core Technologies

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) has established a 20 billion KRW startup support fund, the first of its kind among autonomous districts, to drive the continuous growth of venture and startup companies based on core technologies in the region. The fund held its regulation signing and formation general meeting on the 11th.

The fund, launched under the name "Smart Korea Mega Youth Investment Association," includes investors such as Gwanak-gu, Korea Fund of Funds, Megastudy Education, and Danawa, with Mega Investment serving as the managing general partner.

Mega Investment, established in 2012 as a new technology business finance company, has a stable financial structure and experience in forming and managing 10 funds since its inception.

To address youth unemployment through revitalizing the youth startup ecosystem, the fund plans to focus investments on sectors where youth startups are active, including New ICT (platforms, Internet of Things, etc.), Bio-Health Care, Innovative Contents, and Edu-tech.

In particular, for companies located in Gwanak-gu, the fund plans to invest more than 200% of the district’s contribution (500 million KRW) to promote the growth and regional settlement of local companies.

During the 7th elected term, Gwanak-gu has modeled itself after China’s Zhongguancun and the United States’ Silicon Valley, aiming to build a startup ecosystem centered on its core assets, "Seoul National University" and "youth," by promoting a venture and startup valley project around Nakseongdae-dong and Daehak-dong areas.

Over the past two years, efforts have been made to establish startup infrastructure such as the Nakseong Venture Startup Center, Nakseongdae R&D Center, Seoul Startup Cafe Nakseongdae Branch, and Startup HERE-RO 1, 2, 3, and 4. Currently, 31 companies are actively operating in these facilities, and by the end of this year, when the under-construction facilities are completed, about 34 additional companies are expected to move in.

Additionally, startup infrastructure is being developed at Seoul National University and other locations, so the number of venture and startup companies in this area is expected to steadily increase.

The district has also recently amended the ordinance on fostering and supporting venture companies, expanding the support target from early startups (within 3 years of establishment) to startups within 7 years of establishment, to ensure continuous investment in these companies so they can grow into unicorn companies beyond just forming the fund.

Since many companies fail to overcome the "valley of death" that occurs around 2 to 5 years after founding due to financial difficulties and other reasons, the plan is to provide various supports tailored to each growth stage from early startup to growth phase, thereby promoting company growth and regional settlement.

Mayor Park Jun-hee said, "Since taking office, the venture and startup valley project has been steadily progressing step by step, and we will prepare more diverse support measures to make Gwanak-gu a startup mecca in Korea. I hope many venture and startup companies will nurture their dreams in Gwanak-gu."

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