Kibo and Industrial Bank of Korea Join Hands to Revitalize the Technology Innovation Ecosystem

Agreement Guarantee Worth 700 Billion KRW by Growth Stage of Small and Medium Enterprises

The Korea Technology Finance Corporation (Kibo) announced on the 3rd that it has signed a 'Financial Support Business Agreement for the Creation and Activation of the SME Technology Innovation Ecosystem' with the Industrial Bank of Korea.

This agreement was promoted in accordance with the 'Agreement on the Operation of a Consultative Body for the Activation of Policy Finance' signed by both institutions last year, and was prepared to support continuous research and development and scale-up by considering the growth stages and management environment of SMEs.

Kim Jong-ho, Chairman of Kibo (third from the left in the photo), and Kim Sung-tae, President of the Industrial Bank of Korea (third from the right), are posing for a commemorative photo after signing a business agreement.

Through the agreement, Kibo will use the Industrial Bank of Korea's special contributions and guarantee fee support funds to provide ▲ guarantee fee support (0.5 percentage points, for 3 years) to companies needing R&D expenses ▲ fixed guarantee fee rate (0.7%, for 3 years) and guarantee fee support (0.7 percentage points, for 3 years) to companies with excellent technology ▲ increased guarantee ratio (85%→100%) and fixed guarantee fee rate (0.7%) applied to companies selected as Baby Unicorns, segmenting SME growth stages into initial, mid, and mature stages, and will support a total of 700 billion KRW in agreement guarantees.

In April last year, Kibo formed a consultative body for the activation of policy finance with the Industrial Bank of Korea to jointly discover policy finance support areas for SMEs, and has been implementing long-term, low-interest, co-support, and vulnerable SME business normalization agreement guarantees.

Kim Jong-ho, Chairman of Kibo, said, “In a situation where the management environment of SMEs is difficult due to high interest rates and high prices, the importance of policy finance to alleviate financial cost burdens and facilitate smooth fund procurement is increasing,” adding, “Kibo will expand support through collaboration with related organizations so that excellent technology companies can strengthen their technological competitiveness and scale up to become global unicorn companies.”

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