Busan City Calls for Participants in Startup Investment Competition ... Total Investment Fund of 300 Million Won to be Raised

Promotional poster for the '2022 B-Startup Challenge' competition.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] Busan City is recruiting promising startup companies nationwide to participate in the Busan Startup Investment Competition, ‘2022 B-Startup Challenge,’ until the 20th of this month.

The ‘2022 B-Startup Challenge’ is a startup investment competition where startup companies established within the last five years nationwide gather to compete for seed money.

The competition began in 2019 and is now in its fourth year.

Busan City, BNK Busan Bank, and Busan Cultural Broadcasting jointly host the competition, with the Busan Economic Promotion Agency, BNK Venture Investment, and the Korea Accelerator Association co-organizing.

The total investment amount for five teams, including the grand prize of 130 million KRW, gold prize of 80 million KRW, silver prize of 50 million KRW, bronze prize of 30 million KRW, and special prize of 10 million KRW, is 300 million KRW, fully funded by BNK Busan Bank.

The investment is primarily based on BNK Busan Bank’s equity investment in the companies, and if the investment amount exceeds 15% of the company’s equity, the excess will be paid as prize money.

This year, BNK Venture Investment and the Korea Accelerator Association are participating as organizers to provide investment attraction opportunities such as ▲holding follow-up investor relations (IR) rounds ▲networking with private investors in the metropolitan area, and ▲support for participation in A-STREAM (A-STREAM Global Startup Conference).

A-STREAM is a global investment attraction program hosted by the global accelerator Y&Archer (a domestic company) since 2017 to explore global market expansion strategies for domestic startups, scheduled to be held in October.

The 10 companies advancing to the finals will also receive support from BNK Busan Bank’s ‘SUM Incubating Program.’

The SUM Incubating Program is a step-by-step customized nurturing program by BNK Busan Bank to help startup companies grow into global enterprises.

Busan Cultural Broadcasting also plans to produce a separate promotional broadcast program for the award-winning companies.

Applications can be submitted online through the Busan Startup Portal website until June 20. After document and face-to-face evaluations and preliminary rounds, the 10 selected companies will participate in the finals held on July 20 at the BNK Busan Bank headquarters.

Five teams, including the grand prize, gold prize, and silver prize winners, will be selected in the final competition.

Up to last year, 15 teams have won the Busan Startup Investment Competition, receiving a total investment of 14.9 billion KRW.

Using the investment as a stepping stone, Busan company Malanghani, which manufactures and sells baby products, achieved annual sales of 5 billion KRW, and some companies are preparing for KOSDAQ listing, with all award-winning companies showing results.

In March, Busan City also held an on-site communication meeting with representatives of award-winning companies to support their leap to unicorn companies.

The meeting was attended by Park Hyung-joon, Mayor of Busan, and company representatives, who exchanged various opinions on sustainable growth plans for startup companies.

Go Mi-ja, Director of the Youth Industry-Academia Startup Bureau of Busan City, said, “We hope the competition will be a stepping stone for startup companies to leap into unicorn companies,” and added, “We ask for the interest and participation of many excellent startup entrepreneurs nationwide with unlimited potential and growth possibilities.”

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