The Korea Technology Finance Corporation (Korea Technology Finance Corporation, Chairman Kim Jong-ho, hereinafter referred to as “KIBO”) announced that it held the “2025 K-Local Startup Investment Challenge” (hereinafter referred to as “Investment Challenge”) at BEXCO in Busan on Monday the 22nd and selected three promising local startups as final investment support recipients.
This event was designed to support the growth of local startups that struggle to attract investment amidst the concentration of private venture capital in the metropolitan area. Kibo collaborated with the Busan Metropolitan City, Busan Technology Startup Investment Center, accelerators (ACs), and venture capitalists (VCs) to host this event as a key session of the "FLY ASIA 2025" startup fair.
The investment challenge proceeded through a four-stage evaluation process: document screening, remote interviews, remote IR pitching evaluations, and on-site presentations. Seven local startups that passed the third stage of the evaluation participated in the final on-site IR presentations, showcasing their innovative technologies and business models.
On this day, approximately 200 people, including investment industry insiders, aspiring entrepreneurs, and the general public, attended the event, showing great interest. The participating companies competed fiercely, each showcasing their strengths.
According to the on-site presentation evaluation results, the Grand Prize went to Pint Korea Co., Ltd. (CEO Seong-ryong), located in Gwangju; the Excellence Award went to Aple Co., Ltd. (CEO Seong-ho Han), located in Daejeon; and the Excellence Award went to Mold Co., Ltd. (CEO Hyeon-su Lee), located in Wanju County, North Jeolla Province. Kibo plans to consider providing these companies with guaranteed investment support.
Lee Sang-chang, CEO of Kibo, said, “In order to achieve balanced national development and create future growth engines, young and innovative startups in local areas must continuously establish and grow.” He added, “Going forward, Kibo will actively discover local startups that have technological prowess and growth potential but have been neglected by private investment, and will not spare any support, including investment, to help them leap forward as innovative companies representing the nation.”
Meanwhile, since KIBO began supporting investment in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in 2005, it has invested in a total of 688 companies as of the end of August this year, and 45 of these companies have successfully completed initial public offerings (IPOs), demonstrating excellent performance in the venture capital market.
- See more related articles
You must be logged in to post a comment.