Minister Kwon Chil-seung Visits Unicorn Company 'Ridi'... "Listening to On-site Difficulties"

Minister Kwon Chil-seung of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups Holds Meeting with Ridi CEO
Grows into Unicorn Company Two Years After Being Selected as a Prospective Unicorn
"Have Pride and Responsibility and Strive to Support Junior Companies"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwak Minjae] “Ridi has pioneered a new field called content. Congratulations on becoming a unicorn just two years after being selected as a preliminary unicorn by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.”

On the 16th, Kwon Chil-seung, Minister of SMEs and Startups, visited the unicorn company Ridi located in Gangnam, Seoul, presented a unicorn registration commemorative gift, and took time to listen to opinions from the field.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups arranged this visit to hear about the difficulties startups face in growing into unicorns with a corporate value of around 1 trillion won and what is needed to grow into global companies, aiming to reflect these in policies.

Ridi, the company visited that day, is a content platform company operating the comprehensive content platform “Ridibooks,” which includes webtoons, web novels, and e-books, as well as the global webtoon subscription service “Manta.” It became a unicorn company just two years after being selected as a target company for the Ministry’s growth-stage startup support program, “Preliminary Unicorn Special Guarantee.”

During the meeting, Minister Kwon, the Director of the Startup Venture Innovation Office, and Baek Gisik, CEO of Ridi, took time to listen to opinions from the field.

After hearing about Ridi’s growth process and innovation know-how, Minister Kwon said, “The importance of the content industry is increasing day by day, and it is reassuring that Korea now has a content platform unicorn like Ridi,” adding, “The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will systematically support venture and startup companies from founding to investment so that domestic companies can lead the world.” He also added, “I heard that Ridi received an investment of 120 billion won last month, congratulations.”

Baek Gisik, CEO of Ridi, expressed gratitude to Minister Kwon for the visit and said, “Being selected as a preliminary unicorn by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and receiving 10 billion won through the special guarantee helped us become a unicorn company.”

Minister Kwon said, “I give a big round of applause for Ridi’s unicorn registration, and as Ridi is being recognized as a role model in the related industry, I ask you to continue to nurture junior companies with pride and responsibility as you have done so far.”

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