Government to Foster Second Sendbird... Supporting 15 ICT Unicorns

Up to 10 Billion Credit Guarantee... Support for Overseas Expansion and Investment

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] The government is stepping up support for promising ICT startups to nurture a second Sendbird. Sendbird became the first domestic unicorn company in the enterprise-to-enterprise (B2B) software sector after securing Series C funding in April.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 17th the final selection of 15 companies for the 'ICT Growth Project,' a global ICT future unicorn nurturing initiative launched in 2021.

The Global ICT Future Unicorn Nurturing Project is designed to discover promising small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the ICT convergence field with high global growth potential and provide comprehensive support such as overseas expansion, investment, and financing.

This year, the eligibility criteria included SMEs in the ICT or ICT-based convergence fields that have received investments of 2 billion KRW or more from domestic or foreign institutional investors within the last three years after incorporation, or companies whose sales have increased by an average of 10% or more annually over the past three years. A total of 57 companies applied this year, resulting in a competition rate of 3.8 to 1. Selection was made through a comprehensive evaluation of technological level, marketability, international capabilities, and plans to contribute back to the domestic startup ecosystem.

The selected companies include SilkroadSoft, a CDC solution company that identifies and synchronizes data changes within databases; H2O Hospitality, which provides non-face-to-face accommodation solutions based on big data; and Puriosa AI, a fabless company designing inference-dedicated system semiconductors.

The selected companies will receive package support through public-private cooperation with related organizations such as the Ministry of Science and ICT, the National IT Industry Promotion Agency, the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, the Korea Telecommunications Operators Association, Born2Global Centre, and Seoul Guarantee Insurance. Support includes credit guarantees, investment attraction linkage, overseas local specialization programs, performance guarantee insurance, and legal advisory services.

They will receive credit guarantee support of up to 10 billion KRW over three years from the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund. They will also have opportunities to attract venture capital (VC) investments through the Korea ICT Fund (KIF) established by the Korea Telecommunications Operators Association.

Through product-market fit (PMF) consultations provided by Born2Global Centre (B2G), companies can develop preliminary capabilities for overseas expansion. Special programs including nurturing and consulting by local experts at overseas bases of the National IT Industry Promotion Agency will offer opportunities to grow into global unicorn companies. Support from SGI Seoul Guarantee’s guarantee insurance and legal advisory services from the ICT legal advisory group are also available.

This project was launched last year, selecting and supporting 15 unicorn companies in its first year. These companies attracted investments totaling 109.5 billion KRW and achieved sales of 153.2 billion KRW. The employment creation effect reached 278 jobs, with four new corporations established. There were 35 business partnerships and 226 patent applications and registrations.

Cho Kyung-sik, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, "Through our ministry’s ICT creative enterprise nurturing project, Sendbird, which has been supported for five years, became a unicorn company in April this year, and unicorn companies continue to emerge in the ICT sector. We will actively support capable promising ICT companies to grow into unicorn companies through customized comprehensive support and lead the global market."

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