New Credit Guarantees up to 15 Billion KRW for 5 Startups with High Unicorn Potential

Companies selected for the Credit Guarantee Fund Innovation Icon Support Program. Photo by Credit Guarantee Fund

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] The Korea Credit Guarantee Fund announced on the 23rd that it has selected five promising companies with high potential to grow into unicorns as the "6th Innovation Icons."

This selection was made under the Credit Guarantee Fund's "Innovation Icon Support Program." This program is a scale-up initiative designed to help startups grow into next-generation unicorn companies. It targets companies at the leap stage with innovative technologies and new business models. Introduced in 2019, the program selects and supports 5 to 6 promising startups every six months.

A total of 172 companies applied for the 6th Innovation Icon open recruitment. The Credit Guarantee Fund, through a dedicated team, conducted document reviews, on-site inspections, and evaluations by a panel of expert judges including internal and external specialists, ultimately selecting five companies. The selection criteria focused more on future growth potential, innovation of business models, differentiation from existing technologies, and ESG (environment, social, governance) management levels rather than past financial performance.

Selected companies will receive credit guarantees of up to 15 billion KRW. This is the largest amount among startup support organizations. The guarantee fee is applied at the lowest level (0.5%), and additional loan interest rate benefits (0.7 percentage points) are provided through six partner banks. Various non-financial services such as overseas expansion support, consulting, and promotional activities are also offered.

A Credit Guarantee Fund official stated, "As the Credit Guarantee Fund shares the risks of startups and spares no support, many Innovation Icon companies are on the verge of entering global markets, going public (IPO), and becoming unicorns," emphasizing, "We will continue to provide unwavering support through a systematic startup support program to help them grow into unicorns."

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