155 Companies Centered on Non-Face-to-Face Apply for 'Agiyunicorn' Recruitment

Competition Rate 2.6 to 1... Selected Companies Receive 300 Million KRW Market Development Fund
74.2% of Applicants Are Non-Face-to-Face Venture and Startup Companies

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 6th that a total of 155 companies applied for the ‘Baby Unicorn 200 Nurturing Project,’ which closed for applications on the 1st.

The ‘Baby Unicorn 200 Nurturing Project’ is a core initiative of the K-Unicorn Project, which the government is promoting to realize the four major venture nations. It aims to discover 60 baby unicorn companies and provide seed funding to help them grow into unicorn companies.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will provide 300 million KRW in market pioneering funds to the selected baby unicorns this time. A total of 16 companies were recommended through the public recommendation system, of which 7 companies ultimately applied.

By sector, non-face-to-face ventures and startups, which have been spotlighted recently amid the COVID-19 situation, accounted for the largest share at 74.2%. Among the non-face-to-face sectors, applications were highest in the order of lifestyle consumption (18.1%), smart health (14.8%), smart business & finance (11.0%), and technology-based (10.3%).

By investment scale, early growth-stage companies with cumulative investment attraction amounts under 4 billion KRW accounted for 58.1% (90 companies), while companies that attracted investments between 8 billion KRW and less than 10 billion KRW accounted for 9.6% (15 companies).

K-Unicorn Growth Stages and Support Plans by Business. Table = Provided by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups

For the applying companies, after reviewing eligibility, the Korea Technology Finance Corporation will conduct the first technical evaluation starting on the 12th, followed by an in-depth discussion-style evaluation by the second expert evaluation panel, and a final presentation evaluation by the third national jury and expert evaluation panel. The supported companies will be selected in May.

Meanwhile, recruitment for the national jury, which will conduct the final evaluation together with the expert evaluation panel for this baby unicorn application evaluation, will be held online from the 12th to the 23rd.

The national jury can apply if they have more than five years of practical experience in startups, investment, or incubation, and 100 members will be randomly selected after review. The selected national jury will be individually notified on May 10 and will participate in the final evaluation of baby unicorn and prospective unicorn companies.

Lee Okhyung, Director of the Venture Innovation Policy Division at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, “Many promising ventures and startups aiming to become unicorn companies leading the world with innovative technology and bold investment have applied,” adding, “Since we are selecting companies that will be responsible for Korea’s future, we will do our best to select the best companies.”

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