Daegu City to Raise 100 Billion KRW for ABB Industry Growth Fund Over 5 Years... 23.4 Billion KRW This Year, 23 Billion KRW Next Year

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Koo Dae-sun] Daegu City plans to establish a 100 billion KRW growth fund over five years until 2026 to focus on fostering the ABB industry.

On the 1st, Daegu City held a business agreement ceremony for the “ABB Growth Fund Establishment and Operation” with major investors including Daegu Bank, Kyungpook National University Technology Holdings, Idea Bridge Partners (fund management company), and Daegu Digital Innovation Promotion Agency to nurture key sectors of Daegu's future industries.

The “ABB Growth Fund” is Daegu's first ABB-dedicated fund aimed at fostering the ABB (Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, Blockchain) industry, a major theme of Daegu City's 8th elected administration. It is established to support financing and regional settlement of companies possessing related core technologies. This is a key policy in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution to make Daegu a “leading city in ABB industry and a hub city for digital innovation.”

This fund was selected and formed as a Korean Mother Fund patent account investment association promoted by Korea Venture Investment Corp. (a public institution under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups). It has a total scale of 23.4 billion KRW, with 14 billion KRW from the Korean Mother Fund, 4 billion KRW from Daegu City, and 5.4 billion KRW from others (Daegu Bank, Kyungpook National University Technology Holdings, management company, etc.). The fund was established at the end of last September, and Daegu City plans to invest 1 billion KRW annually over four years starting this year.

Daegu City plans to invest 8 billion KRW, twice the 4 billion KRW it invested, from November this year until 2025 into about 10 ABB small and venture companies in Daegu. The invested companies will receive continuous mentoring and coaching for corporate growth, including management, finance, human resources, and follow-up investments.

Starting with this ABB-dedicated fund, Daegu City plans to establish a total fund of 100 billion KRW by 2026. Following this year, Daegu City will invest 8 billion KRW in 2023 to establish a new fund of over 23 billion KRW.

Daegu City stated, “After establishing a 100 billion KRW fund over five years, part of the fund including Daegu City's investment will be invested in ABB companies in the Daegu region, and the remaining amount will be invested in ABB companies scattered across the country. This fund will be a great help to ABB companies in Daegu, which are struggling due to venture investment funds concentrated over 80% in the metropolitan area, poor regional investment infrastructure, and economic recession with high interest rates and inflation.”

Lee Jong-hwa, Deputy Mayor of Economy of Daegu City, said, “We hope that promising local companies receiving investments through the continuous expansion of the ABB fund will achieve high growth and leap to become global companies by revitalizing the local investment ecosystem. We will do our best to play a pivotal role as a catalyst for the growth of the local ABB industry and lead regional economic growth.”

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