The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups) announced that it held a 'Venture Investment Policy Meeting for Fostering AI and Deep Tech Unicorns' at Korea Venture Investment on the 18th (Thursday) presided over by Minister Han Seong-sook, with promising companies in the AI and deep tech fields, senior unicorn companies, and venture investors.
This meeting was organized to discuss additional policy directions for generating results from various angles, following the completion of the selection of an operator for the 'NEXT UNICORN Project (Next Generation Unicorn Discovery and Cultivation Project)*, a representative venture investment program for fostering AI and deep-tech unicorns, on September 11th, just 100 days after the new government took office.
First, Coupang and Toss, two leading unicorn companies that have fundamentally changed the lives of citizens through innovative services such as dawn delivery and fintech, shared their growth experiences and proposed support plans for junior companies and policies necessary for growth.
Coupang CEO Park Dae-joon said, “We have decided to invest 75 billion won to help innovative AI startups scale up, which will serve as the foundation for the government’s goal of becoming one of the top three AI powerhouses.” He added, “Based on Coupang’s AI-based logistics innovation know-how, we plan to provide generous support, including AI cloud infrastructure utilization and PoC collaboration, so that the invested companies can create success stories essential for global expansion.”
Toss CFO Seo Hyun-woo emphasized the importance of the government's bold scale-up investment, saying, "Large-scale investments by policy finance institutions during the scale-up phase of companies have sent a positive signal to the market, which has also been of great help in attracting global investment in the future."
Next, venture capital firms that will directly manage the NEXT UNICORN Project fund also attended the event to share future investment directions and discuss policy recommendations necessary for the growth of invested companies.
KB Investment CEO Yoon Beop-ryeol, who was selected for the scale-up deep tech sector, said, “This fund is the first policy fund to focus on scale-up investments of more than 10 billion won per company on average,” and added, “As a venture capital firm in the financial sector, we will actively participate in keeping with the new government’s ‘productive finance’ policy.”
Astone Ventures CEO Shinyoung Ahn, who was selected for the startup AI convergence field, said, “We will discover and invest in promising startups in the AI frontier industry that create value for consumers and end users based on core AI technologies.”
Finally, the group discussed policy initiatives necessary for future unicorn growth with promising companies in the AI and deep tech sectors. Given the inherent necessities of large-scale facility investment and mass production, the need for a comprehensive support system encompassing investment, guarantees, and taxation was emphasized. Furthermore, the discussion focused on strategic investment resource allocation in light of the rapidly changing technological landscape, attracting overseas investment for global expansion, and expanding networking opportunities.
Minister Han Seong-sook said, “If a virtuous cycle of innovation is established where the know-how and networks of senior companies and the new technologies and ideas of junior companies are combined, and supported by bold investments from venture capital, more unicorn companies and even representative big tech companies of the country can be born.” She added, “We will reflect the vivid opinions and policy suggestions discussed today in the ‘Comprehensive Plan to Leap Forward to the Four Major Venture Powerhouses’ to be announced in the second half of the year, and create a strong venture investment market and a world-class innovation ecosystem that support the birth of unicorns.”
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