[Card News] Turning Imagination into Reality! The World of Startups

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-kyung Lee]

A “unicorn company” refers to an unlisted startup valued at 1 billion dollars or more and established within the last 10 years. As of 2019, South Korea has 11 unicorn companies. However, contrary to expectations, startups are facing a crisis due to an unprecedented severe economic recession. But we have incubators supporting founders who dream of tomorrow’s unicorns! On July 15, Gwacheon City announced that it will promote the “Youth Startup Growth Lease Deposit Support Project,” which provides up to 50 million won in interest-free support for one year to assist startup support. The Small and Medium Business Corporation is also stepping up to help startups struggling due to COVID-19. It has expanded youth-exclusive startup funds by 30 billion won compared to last year, operating a total of 160 billion won. Additionally, in collaboration with Korea Venture Investment Corp., it is conducting projects such as the startup direct investment linkage support project and the regional win-win “Next Unicorn Project” with Kangwon Land and others. There are also companies leading social innovation startup support. On July 15, KT&G opened “Sangsang Planet,” a startup support center in Seongsu-dong, the mecca of social ventures. Floors 1 to 3 of Sangsang Planet operate as public spaces including a caf?, an event-capable “Connect Hall,” and a “Scale-up Room” for lectures, while floors 4 to 8 are dedicated office spaces for resident companies, providing an optimized environment for startup growth. In addition, since 2004, KT&G has supported the “KT&G Asia University Student Startup Exchange Exhibition,” and has supported youth startups using the voluntary donations of its employees called the “Sangsang Fund.” Since 2017, it has annually held the “KT&G Sangsang Startup Camp,” selecting prospective entrepreneurs and supporting the entire launch process of social innovation startups. We look forward to support from all sectors that goes beyond imagination so that the imagination of Korean startups can soar higher and more freely.

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