KDB 산은, Recruiting for 'KDB NextONE Seoul·Busan' in the Second Half of the Year

Selection of about 15 companies each in Seoul and Busan
Applications accepted until the 30th... Customized support for 5 months in the second half of the year

On the 10th, the creditor meeting of Taeyoung Construction was held at the headquarters of the Korea Development Bank in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

On the 13th, Korea Development Bank (KDB) announced that it will accept applications for the startup incubation program 'KDB NextONE Seoul·Busan' until the 30th. Approximately 15 companies will be selected from both Seoul and Busan, with the final selected companies announced at the end of June, and the incubation program will run for five months starting in July.

The newly launched 'KDB NextONE Busan' is being promoted to support the government policy of developing Busan as the southern hub for national balanced development. The incubation space will be established by the end of May on the 9th floor of the KDB Busan Branch located in Jungang-dong, Busan, as a complex space combining a startup IR space, VC investor offices, and incubation company offices.

Selected companies will receive customized support for practical growth, including mentoring, IR consulting, and overseas expansion support. Additionally, KDB NextONE Busan plans to connect with mentor groups from VCs and companies based in the Seoul metropolitan area to create the same effect as receiving incubation in the metropolitan area.

Since its launch in 2020, KDB NextONE has incubated 120 startups over eight cohorts, with participating companies achieving numerous business results such as patent applications and creating new jobs. Among them, 53 companies attracted investments totaling 62.8 billion KRW during the incubation period.

KDB has made direct investments totaling 23.4 billion KRW in 11 KDB NextONE participating companies from 2021 through the first quarter of 2024. It plans to further expand the scale of direct investments going forward.

A KDB official stated, “By expanding direct investments in NextONE incubation companies, we aim to support startups in overcoming crises during the investment market downturn and promote regional expansion and balanced regional development of the domestic venture ecosystem by newly launching KDB NextONE Busan.”

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