Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, "Entrepreneurs Want Direct Investment in Startups"

Survey Results Announced for 107 Busan Entrepreneurs

8 out of 10 Are Investing or Interested in Investing

Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] The Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced on the 13th the results of a survey on the interest of Busan-area businesspeople in startups, conducted among 107 entrepreneurs who participated in the ‘Busan Startup Day 99 Degrees Event.’

It was found that businesspeople in Busan also show high interest in investing in promising startups, raising expectations that a business-centered investment ecosystem can be established locally.

Response regarding plans for startup investment or collaboration.

According to the compiled results, 50% of surveyed businesspeople have plans to invest in or collaborate with startups, 27.3% are currently investing, and only 22.7% responded that they have no plans.

Local businesspeople showed a preference for direct investment over indirect investment in startups.

Among the surveyed entrepreneurs, 34.8% preferred indirect investment methods such as funds or investment associations, whereas 60.6% favored direct equity investment.

The Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry analyzed that the interest in startups goes beyond simple investment to include expanding business opportunities through collaboration such as transferring management know-how.

Reasons for investing in or collaborating with startups.

When asked about the actual reasons for investment, business diversification including entry into new businesses ranked first at 38.5%, followed by securing new investment destinations at 22.9%, and acquiring leading technologies at 18.3%.

The Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry stated that the high interest in startup investment and collaboration among local businesspeople is due to the increased necessity for new business entry for sustainable growth amid the wave of technological innovation triggered by COVID-19.

It is expected that if the needs of local businesses are reflected in nurturing startups, the creation of a business-centered startup investment ecosystem will also be possible.

The most interested startup business area was IT-based platform software at 16.8%.

Consumer products and services accounted for 14.9%, manufacturing technology 14.3%, distribution services 12.4%, bio-healthcare 11.8%, and media-content 9.3%, showing relatively even interest across various fields as the differences in response rates among categories were not large.

For revitalizing local startups, the most necessary tasks were identified as expanding investment platforms and strengthening the discovery of promising startups, followed by enhancing investment incentives, deregulation, and expanding policy fund support.

The Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry emphasized that due to the lack of channels to obtain information on promising startups, it is urgent to build a platform that systematically provides diverse investment information and encourages connections between companies with investment intentions.

A representative from the Corporate Trend Analysis Center said, “Investment by local businesses in startups has great significance not only in terms of business diversification but also in preventing the outflow of youth, a chronic problem in the Busan economy.”

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