330,372 Startup Companies in Q1 This Year... 4.4% Decrease Compared to Previous Year

Real Estate Market Decline Leads to 47.9% Drop in Related Startups

A startup space inside a startup support center in Seoul is completely empty.

The number of startups in the first quarter of this year decreased by about 15,000 compared to the first quarter of last year.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced the '2023 Q1 Startup Trends' on the 31st. The number of startups in Q1 was 333,372, a 4.4% (15,360) decrease compared to the same period last year. The number of startups in Q1 has been declining annually: 462,991 in 2020, 360,846 in 2021, and 348,732 in 2022. This is analyzed to be due to increased economic uncertainties such as high inflation, high interest rates, and high exchange rates.

It was analyzed that the main reason for the decrease in startups in Q1 was a 31,872 (47.9%) decrease in real estate startups compared to the previous year, due to last year's downturn in the real estate market. Excluding real estate, startups in Q1 this year increased by 16,512 (5.8%) compared to Q1 last year.

By industry, the number of new startups increased in accommodation and food services (25.6%) compared to Q1 last year, due to the rise in e-commerce and the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic. New startups also increased in wholesale and retail trade (7.9%), information and communication (13.4%), electricity, gas, and air (49.4%), business facility management (7.6%), education services (9%), arts, sports, and leisure (14.3%), and personal services (6%).

On the other hand, startups decreased in manufacturing (-14%) and construction (-9.4%) compared to the same period last year. Real estate (-47.9%), agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and mining (-6.4%), water supply, sewage, and waste (-4.8%), transportation and warehousing (-13.5%), finance and insurance (-36.5%), professional, scientific, and technical services (-10.7%), and health and social welfare (-12.4%) also struggled.

Technology-based startups in Q1 numbered 62,299, recording a level similar to last year. The proportion of technology-based startups in total startups was 18.7%, up 0.8 percentage points from Q1 last year, marking an all-time high.

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