Jung Woo-taek "Venture Infrastructure Investment Concentrated in the Capital Area... Polarization Deepens"

Jung Woo-taek "Venture investment increased
but benefits mainly went to the Seoul metropolitan area"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-joo] The polarization of venture infrastructure investment between the Seoul metropolitan area and non-metropolitan regions is reportedly intensifying.

According to the "Status of New Venture Investments by Region" submitted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to Jeong Woo-taek, a member of the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, Small and Medium Enterprises, and Venture Committee from the People Power Party, the proportion of venture investment in the Seoul metropolitan area was 75.1% last year, showing annual growth.

In contrast, the five major metropolitan cities and other provinces saw their shares decrease by 1.7 percentage points each in 2020, standing at 9.3% and 7.4%, respectively.

Although new venture investment funds increased significantly to 7.7 trillion won last year, 5.8 trillion won flowed into the Seoul metropolitan area.

The regions with poor venture investment conditions were Jeonbuk (0.9%), Daegu (0.8%), Gwangju (0.7%), Gangwon (0.8%), Chungbuk (0.8%), Gyeongnam (0.6%), Jeonnam (0.6%), Jeju (0.5%), Ulsan (0.5%), and Sejong (0.4%), in that order.

Rep. Jeong stated through the data, "Although the amount of new venture investment last year increased more than threefold compared to 2017, the benefits were mostly taken by the Seoul metropolitan area," emphasizing, "A balanced venture and startup investment ecosystem that does not neglect the provinces must be established." He also announced that he plans to question Minister nominee Lee Young of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups regarding this issue at the hearing on the morning of the 11th.

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