At Least One of Two 'Baby Unicorns' Grows Stepping on Seoul City's 'Startup Stepping Stone'
33 of 60 Baby Unicorns Selected by the Ministry of SMEs Grow Through Seoul City's Customized Support
Close Support for Startups at Each Growth Stage Including Office Space, Funding, and Global Expansion
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Among the 60 "Baby Unicorn" companies announced by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, 33 companies were found to have grown through discovery and customized support from the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
According to Seoul City on the 30th, 55% of the "Baby Unicorn" companies received support from the city, including office space (10 companies), capital expansion such as the Seoul Future Innovation Growth Fund (23 companies), and support for global expansion, technical personnel wages, and growth promotion packages (14 companies).
Seoul City is boldly supporting the startup ecosystem to secure future industries despite the unprecedented prolonged crisis in the startup field due to COVID-19 and the rapidly changing industrial environment such as the establishment of non-face-to-face industries.
So far, Seoul City has made efforts to lay "growth stepping stones at each startup stage." When promising startups grow into prospective unicorns with Seoul City's support, the city creates "stepping stones" to enable them to receive linked government support. Through multifaceted support, the goal is to prevent our companies with sufficient growth potential from collapsing due to temporary investment cliffs or funding shortages, and to intensively support them through the stages of becoming prospective unicorns (enterprise value over 100 billion KRW) and further unicorns (enterprise value over 1 trillion KRW), linking to central government support as stepping stones.
Hot Picks Today
As Samsung Falters, Chinese DRAM Surges: CXMT Returns to Profit in Just One Year
- "Most Americans Didn't Want This"... Americans Lose 60 Trillion Won to Soaring Fuel Costs
- Man in His 30s Dies After Assaulting Father and Falling from Yongin Apartment
- Samsung Union Member Sparks Controversy With Telegram Post: "Let's Push KOSPI Down to 5,000"
- "Why Make Things Like This?" Foreign Media Highlights Bizarre Phenomenon Spreading in Korea
Kim Ui-seung, Director of Economic Policy at Seoul City, said, "By discovering innovative technologies with market competitiveness and providing customized support to companies with growth potential, we were able to find opportunities for leapfrogging even in the difficult situation caused by COVID-19," adding, "We will spare no effort to build a robust startup ecosystem and create a startup-friendly environment where our startups can quickly respond to the rapidly changing industrial environment."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
