"New 1 Trillion Won Startup Fund Established... Leap to Become One of the World's Top 4 Venture Powerhouses" (Comprehensive)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] President Moon Jae-in announced plans to support the venture startup ecosystem by newly establishing a 1 trillion won fund dedicated to startup companies and a 200 billion won M&A fund, aiming to leap forward as one of the world's top four venture powerhouses.

On the 26th, President Moon attended the 'K+ Venture Event' held at the Blue House and stated, "We will provide meticulous support from startup to growth, exit, and re-challenge to firmly leap forward as one of the world's top four venture powerhouses."

On this day, the event served as an opportunity to share success know-how through lectures by exemplary successful startup and venture entrepreneurs and dialogues among junior startup and venture companies, while stakeholders in the startup and venture ecosystem sought continuous expansion of the second venture boom.

President Moon said, "South Korea is now moving beyond the 'era of catching up' to the 'era of overtaking,' and venture entrepreneurs are at the center of this. The first generation of venture entrepreneurs laid the stepping stones toward becoming an IT powerhouse, and the second generation is leading new challenges in our economy."

He evaluated, "'The second venture boom' shows a more mature and evolved form than the first venture boom in both scale and quality," adding, "Despite the COVID-19 situation, the annual scale of new venture investments surpassed 4 trillion won for the first time last year, more than doubling compared to 20 years ago."

He also emphasized that the number of unicorn companies increased from only three in 2017 to 15, with 357 prospective unicorn companies emerging, marking a leap in venture companies, and that venture companies have surpassed the employment scale of the four major conglomerate groups.

President Moon mentioned that the Moon administration launched the Ministry of SMEs and Startups as the only new government ministry and invested 4.8 trillion won in the Korea Fund of Funds, while innovating systems such as abolishing joint guarantees in policy finance and implementing regulatory sandboxes, contributing to the creation of the venture ecosystem.

He then expressed his intention to leap forward as one of the world's top four venture countries based on various venture startup supports. President Moon emphasized, "We will further activate innovative technology startups," and added, "We will increase the annual number of technology startups from about 230,000 to 300,000 by 2024." He also announced plans to reduce the tax burden on stock options to promote the inflow of talent and capital into venture companies.

President Moon said, "We will also increase support for venture investments," and stated, "To expand investments in early-stage startups with high risk, we will newly establish a dedicated fund worth 1 trillion won." He plans to promptly pass legislation allowing unlisted venture companies to issue multiple voting rights shares, creating conditions to receive large-scale investments without management burdens.

The M&A market will also be revitalized. President Moon said, "We will establish a technology innovation M&A guarantee program to support the acquisition of venture companies by small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-sized companies," and "We will newly create a 200 billion won M&A dedicated fund." Regulations will also be rationalized so that listed companies can utilize funds to merge with venture companies.

President Moon emphasized, "While retaining the confidence built during the 'era of catching up,' we must find new success strategies suitable for the 'era of overtaking,' and the venture industry holds the key to that solution."

Meanwhile, the Blue House stated that this event was conducted under thorough quarantine measures such as hand sanitization and temperature checks, considering the COVID-19 prevention situation.

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