Seoul City Begins Establishment of 5 Trillion Won 'Seoul Vision Fund'

Start of 1 Trillion Won Fundraising This Year

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is launching the 5 trillion won ‘Seoul Vision 2030 Fund.’ This year, as the first year of establishment, it will start with a fund size of 1 trillion won.

Seoul announced on the 15th that over four years (2023?2026), it will raise a total of 5 trillion won to strengthen the startup ecosystem in future industries such as robotics, bio-medical, fintech, and artificial intelligence, and invest to help innovative startups grow into unicorns.

Due to the triple crisis of high interest rates, high inflation, and high exchange rates, along with the financial sector’s preference for safe assets and a contraction in the investment market, startups are facing difficulties in raising funds and are encountering a critical limit where they cannot survive the Death Valley.

The city will establish the ‘Seoul Vision 2030 Fund’ across six sectors to help ventures and startups overcome these challenges. Over four years, the funds will be allocated as follows: ▲Scale-up Fund (1.4 trillion won), ▲Digital Transformation Fund (1 trillion won), ▲Startup Support Fund (1 trillion won), ▲Seoul Bio Fund (750 billion won), ▲Cultural Contents Fund (600 billion won), and ▲First Step Companion Fund (250 billion won).

This year, Seoul will invest 70 billion won from its budget and link it with government mother funds and private investment capital to start raising a fund of 1.065 trillion won within the year. The raised funds will be intensively invested in innovative companies across the entire lifecycle, from early to later stages.

The city has announced an integrated investment notice for the establishment of the ‘Seoul Vision 2030 Fund.’ To strengthen investment linkage with companies supported by Seoul’s policy projects, specific policy linkage plans and investment intentions will be given additional points during the second face-to-face evaluation.

Kim Tae-gyun, Director of Seoul’s Economic Policy Office, said, “By establishing the Seoul Vision 2030 Fund, we plan to invigorate the overall startup ecosystem, including promising future innovative technologies and early-stage companies. Starting with the establishment of a 1.065 trillion won fund this year, we will raise a total of 5 trillion won over the next four years to help ventures and startups break free from the frozen investment market and develop global competitiveness through diversified investments.”

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