Incheon City Leaps to 'Global Top Ten City'... Agreement to Attract Global Innovative Companies and Capital

Incheon City is making steady progress toward becoming a 'Global Top Ten City Incheon' by attracting global innovative companies and capital. The Global Top Ten City initiative reflects Incheon’s vision to rise as one of the world’s top 10 cities by attracting global companies centered around the southern part of Ganghwado Island and the areas of Yeongjong, Cheongna, and Songdo.

On the 28th, the city signed a business agreement on 'Attracting Global Innovative Companies and Establishing the First Global Top Ten Mother Fund' with Hada Co., Freeman Co., and Incheon Technopark at the mayor’s reception room in City Hall.

This agreement is a result of the visit by the global company Hada Meta to Incheon in May. Last month, Hada Meta established Hada, a foreign-invested system software development company, in Korea, and Freeman is a venture capital (VC) investment firm that directly discovers and invests in companies.

On the 28th, at the reception room of Incheon City Hall, Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok is taking a commemorative photo with attendees including Wen Chaojun, CEO of Hada Co., Ltd. (fifth from the right), and Shi Chaofeng, CEO of Freeman Co., Ltd. (fourth from the left), during the 'Global Innovative Company Attraction and Formation of the First Mo Fund Business Agreement Ceremony.'
[Photo by Incheon City]

Incheon City and Hada signed a business agreement to support Incheon companies’ global expansion and to discover and nurture global innovative companies in the deep tech sector for the settlement and growth of global companies in Incheon. They will cooperate to create a global venture and startup hub city.

Additionally, Incheon City began establishing the Incheon Innovation Mother Fund in 2021, the first of its kind among local governments, and collaborated with economic organizations to form an innovation mother fund. Following last year’s investment in domestic companies, this year the city expanded its investment collaboration to include global companies, signing an agreement with Freeman to establish the 'Global Top Ten Mother Fund No. 1.'

The Global Top Ten Mother Fund aims to raise a total fund of 1 trillion KRW over five years from 2024 to 2028, with Incheon City and global companies jointly investing 100 billion KRW to nurture unicorn companies in Incheon. Under this agreement, the city and Freeman will each invest 15 billion KRW, totaling 30 billion KRW, to create sub-funds exceeding 300 billion KRW.

Wen Chaojun, CEO of Hada, stated, "Since my visit in May, we have maintained continuous exchanges with Incheon City and completed preparations for business planning and cooperation in Incheon. Together with Incheon City, we will discover technology innovation companies, support their global expansion, and contribute to the rise of Global Top Ten City Incheon by growing unicorn companies through more business opportunities in Incheon."

Chao Feng, CEO of Freeman, also said, "We will not stop at establishing this mother fund but will continue to seek sustainable development by discovering excellent companies and making direct investments in cooperation with related organizations in Incheon City."

Yoo Jeong-bok, Mayor of Incheon, said, "The Global Top Ten Mother Fund is a follow-up to the Incheon Big Wave Mother Fund project, which was the first initiative by a local government. Starting this year, we will further expand the fund size and global cooperation partners through attracting global capital. We will do our best to build a global venture and startup hub so that more global companies can grow and settle in Incheon through relocation."

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