Financial Services Commission: "Actively Support Special Listing for Tech Companies"... Institutional Improvement Plan to be Announced in July

From the 21st, 8 Sessions of 'Visiting Roadshow' to be Held
Venture Investment Slowdown... Discovering Core Technologies and Supporting IPOs

The government is making all-out efforts to support funding for core technology companies.

On the 20th, the Financial Services Commission, the Financial Supervisory Service, and the Korea Exchange announced that starting from the 21st, they will hold a ‘Visiting Technology Special Listing Roadshow’ to discover core technology companies and support their listing. This plan comes amid ongoing concerns that the recent slowdown in venture investment could disrupt the development and commercialization of new technologies, which are the growth engines of our economy. In collaboration with related ministries such as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the Ministry of Science and ICT, the roadshow aims to revitalize the stagnant venture investment market. Looking at the scale of venture investment, there has been a sharp decline since the second half of last year. While investment in the first quarter of last year surged by 69% year-on-year to 2.2 trillion won, it dropped by about 40% year-on-year to 1.3 trillion won in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, it shrank by 44% to 1.3 trillion won. In the first quarter of this year, it further plummeted by 60% to 900 billion won.

The purpose of this briefing session is to enable technology companies to actively utilize the currently operating technology special listing system based on sufficient information. Technology special listing refers to the ability to list on the KOSDAQ market even without profits or sales if there is innovation in technology or growth potential in the business. So far, 184 companies have been listed, but startups and small and medium enterprises face a lack of opportunities to obtain information about the special listing details or key evaluation factors.

Sehoon Lee, Secretary General of the Financial Services Commission, explained, “If the Korea Exchange previously focused only on reviewing incoming applications, from now on, it will actively seek out and assist companies.” He added, “Based on the results of the briefing sessions, we will supplement necessary content and regularize these customized touring briefings for technology companies.”

Furthermore, the Financial Services Commission plans to listen to the difficulties companies face during the preparation process for listing and reflect them in future system improvements. Currently, the Financial Services Commission is conducting a ‘Related Ministries Task Force (TF)’ meeting with affiliated organizations such as the Korea Capital Market Institute, the Korea Venture Capital Association, and the Korea Bio Association to improve funding for technology companies. Through this briefing session, they aim to identify companies’ difficulties and prepare measures to address system and operational issues by next month.

Key improvement points include ▲ the increased time and cost burden due to the obligation to receive technology evaluations from multiple technology evaluation agencies before technology special listing ▲ the increased burden on companies caused by insufficient information sharing among agencies during the review process ▲ the restriction on special listing if a mid-sized or larger company becomes the parent company. Additionally, active feedback for companies rejected during the special listing process and expanding the participation of experts with a high understanding of the technology industry will also be discussed to alleviate the difficulties faced by technology companies.

Secretary General Lee emphasized, “To achieve sustainable growth of our economy, we must nurture advanced technologies in each field and select and foster competitive companies.” He added, “We will actively improve related systems and operational issues to increase successful listing cases of promising technology companies.”

Meanwhile, the Related Ministries TF plans to sequentially announce additional necessary improvements related to major tasks such as the introduction of BDCs (Business Development Companies), the creation of secondary funds, activation of M&A, investment by new technology finance companies, and trading of unlisted stocks, based on the progress of the ‘Innovation Venture and Startup Company Funding Support and Competitiveness Enhancement Plan’ announced last April to revitalize fundraising beyond listings.

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