Seoul's 'Social Venture Hub' 2 Years as Startup Mecca... 21 Resident Companies Achieve Cumulative Sales of 17.8 Billion KRW and 218 New Jobs

One-Stop Services Including Commercialization and Consulting... Successful Investment Attraction of 11.6 Billion Won

Social Venture Hub Exterior View

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The ‘Social Venture Hub,’ a cradle for social ventures pursuing social value, has achieved cumulative sales approaching 18 billion KRW over two years since it began supporting companies facing difficulties in their early startup stages, continuing to deliver results such as attracting investments and filing intellectual property rights.

According to Seoul City on the 3rd, since the establishment of the Social Venture Hub in 2019, 21 companies (cumulative) have moved in, achieving sales of 17.8154 billion KRW by the third quarter of this year and successfully attracting 11.6 billion KRW in investments. New employment also reached 218 people.

A representative of the Social Venture Hub explained, “Over the past two years, we have conducted resource linkage and external expert consulting for strategic financial investment attraction, and actively continue support such as providing investment consulting for 44 companies participating in investment attraction.”

The Social Venture Hub was established in October 2019 near Seolleung Station in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu. It was set up to support young people dreaming of starting social ventures by providing startup support, investment attraction, and market development. Generally, social ventures must overcome numerous challenges to grow beyond a certain level after founding, so the center plays a crucial role as a catalyst.

Since its inception, the Social Venture Hub has actively supported resident companies. Last year, amid strengthened social distancing measures due to the spread of COVID-19, the center reduced management fees by 50% for six months to support resident companies’ difficulties, and earlier this year, it recruited 10 companies to use office space free of charge for one year. The rent is supported by the Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO).

The center enhances efficiency by operating four programs tailored to different support targets. The accelerating program targets 35 social ventures established less than seven years ago, providing overall business diagnosis, funding strategies, and growth plans, and separately supports each company with 5 million KRW for business model validation. Additionally, to facilitate investment linkage, investment consulting was conducted for 44 companies, and a demo day was held for 20 startup teams.

The market support program is conducted for social ventures located in Seoul and resident companies or startup teams at the Social Venture Hub. For social ventures aiming for overseas expansion and distribution channel expansion, individual consultations are held to set tasks for market development, and dedicated consultants are provided. Furthermore, the program is open to the general public through the Social Venture Academy and the operation of DestLab.

Support targets are strictly selected according to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ notification. The center selects companies that score above a certain threshold by evaluating social economy enterprise certifications, the degree of pursuit of social value, social value realization capability, and the social value creation level of the representative. It also assesses innovation growth potential by evaluating areas such as technological innovation, business symbolism, R&D capabilities, and the technical skills of the representative.

Han Young-hee, Seoul City’s Director of Labor, Fairness, and Coexistence Policy, stated, “Marking the second anniversary of the Social Venture Hub’s opening this year, it has continuously generated results such as profits and new job creation for resident companies, proving the growth potential of social ventures. We will actively support discovering and nurturing social ventures that create social and economic value through innovative business models.”

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