GS Retail, HiteJinro and 15 Others Selected as TIPS Operators... Startup Discovery and Investment

Overview of the TIPS Program by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] GS Retail and Hite Jinro have been newly selected as operators of the startup investment support program TIPS.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 19th that it had additionally selected 17 TIPS operators. The new operators are expected to begin full-scale activities to discover and recommend startup companies starting next month.

TIPS is a program where operators selected by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups discover and invest in capable startups and recommend them, and the ministry provides support such as R&D and startup commercialization funds through a separate selection evaluation.

As of last month, 65 TIPS operators were active, and with this selection, 17 new operators have been added, bringing the total to 82 operators who will discover promising companies and recommend them to the ministry.

Following the amendment of the Small and Medium Enterprise Startup Support Act last year, which relaxed the requirements for TIPS operators, many corporate-type operators have joined.

First, GS Retail and Hite Jinro, both KOSPI-listed companies, were selected as operators without registering as startup incubators.

Including Daewoong Pharmaceutical and VNTG of the SeAH Group, which also operate as startup incubators, a total of four companies are expected to operate as TIPS operators.

Corporate-type operators are expected to achieve co-growth with innovative startups by actively utilizing the resources and collaboration systems of their parent companies.

From this year, the ministry established a specialized operator system that requires recommending at least 40% of startups in specific fields.

The specialized fields include △Bio & Healthcare △Digital Content, Games & Sports △Youth Startups, with one company selected in each field, totaling three companies (Daewoong Pharmaceutical, Y&Archer, KAIST Youth Startup Investment Holdings).

Meanwhile, the ministry introduced a preliminary operator system this year to provide opportunities for investment firms with insufficient investment performance but potential to become TIPS operators.

The six institutions selected as preliminary operators will perform investment, incubation, and recommendation tasks for about two years starting this year, and their transition to official operators will be decided based on their performance.

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