KTB Group Provides 100 Million KRW Startup Support Fund to University Student Startups

Annual support of 200 million KRW planned, totaling 1 billion KRW over the next 5 years

At the 'KTB Venture Challenge 2020' held on the 15th, Hwang Jun-ho, CEO of KTB Investment & Securities Group Strategy Division (seventh from the left), and Kim Jin-hyung, Executive Vice President of the Korea Venture Business Association (second from the left), are taking a commemorative photo with the awardees.

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] KTB Group held an idea competition for university students aspiring to start their own businesses, selecting a total of 10 teams and awarding startup support funds of 100 million KRW.

KTB Group announced on the 16th that it organized the 'KTB Venture Challenge 2020' event the day before in collaboration with the Seoul Venture Incubator (SVI) under the Korea Venture Business Association, and delivered startup support funds to the winning teams. Applications began in July, with a total of 228 teams from 75 domestic and international universities applying. These teams received programs worth a total of 100 million KRW, including accelerating, education, and mentoring. After various evaluations, the final 10 teams were selected to receive a total prize of 100 million KRW.

The grand prize was awarded to the 'Join & Join' team, which developed alternative food desserts. They received 20 million KRW in commercialization funds. The 'Doctor Guide' team, which developed a non-face-to-face medical consultation and pharmaceutical delivery service platform, and the 'Medi i Plus' team, which developed an AI-based clinical trial information service, each received 15 million KRW as the grand prize winners. Among them, two excellent teams also received office space benefits within SVI.

This event was promoted as part of KTB Group's social contribution activities, which operates the largest public KOSDAQ venture fund in the industry. The funding was raised through management fees from KTB Asset Management's KOSDAQ venture fund and contributions from KTB Group affiliates. Starting last year, the plan is to support a total of 1 billion KRW annually with a scale of 200 million KRW per year. Attendees included Hwang Junho, CEO of KTB Investment & Securities Group Strategy Division, and Kim Jinhyung, full-time vice chairman of the Korea Venture Business Association. To prevent the spread of COVID-19, the number of participants was limited to fewer than 30, and the event was conducted via live online streaming on YouTube.

Lee Byungchul, Vice Chairman of KTB Group, said in a video greeting, "Despite the difficult circumstances due to COVID-19, we were able to hold a successful event thanks to the high interest and passion of the participants," and added, "I hope the KTB Venture Challenge will become a valuable stepping stone for youth entrepreneurship."

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