Minister Han Seong-sook of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) attended the inaugural ceremony of the Gyeongbuk-POSCO Innovation Growth Venture Fund (hereinafter referred to as the Gyeongbuk Fund) held at the Pohang Change Up Ground on Wednesday the 22nd and announced that the Gyeongbuk Fund, which focuses on investing in Gyeongsangbuk-do, has completed recruiting investors and will begin full-scale operations.
In February of this year, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups recruited local governments to participate in the creation of regional mother funds exclusively for non-metropolitan areas. With the Gyeongbuk fund as the final fund, the Ministry has completed the formation of four mother funds, including those in South Chungcheong, Busan, and Gangwon, totaling KRW 400 billion. It plans to launch a private equity fund contribution program in the second half of the year to quickly establish a venture fund totaling KRW 700 billion.
The Gyeongbuk Fund was formed as a large-scale mother fund with a total of KRW 101.1 billion, with the mother fund providing KRW 60 billion as a starting capital and Gyeongsangbuk-do, regional anchor companies POSCO, Pohang City, Gumi City, Gyeongju City, Gumi City, and Nonghyup Bank participating as investors.
Notably, this Gyeongbuk Fund marks the first time a major local conglomerate has participated as an investor in the regional mother fund project, which the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has been promoting since 2021. The Gyeongbuk Fund is expected to strengthen the mutually beneficial cooperation between local startups and venture companies and POSCO.
The Gyeongbuk Fund plans to finalize its investment areas through a November Steering Committee meeting and begin its private equity fund investment program in November, establishing a venture fund of KRW 200 billion over the next two years. Of this, over KRW 80 billion will be invested primarily in startups and venture companies located in Gyeongbuk and companies relocating to the region.
Minister Han Seong-sook said, “The Gyeongbuk-POSCO Innovation Growth Venture Fund is very meaningful in that it is the first regional mother fund creation project in which a major regional company like POSCO has invested,” and added, “The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will refer to the cases of mother funds created in South Chungcheong Province, Busan, Gangwon Province, and North Gyeongsang Province this year and develop them so that more local community investors can participate in regional mother funds to be created in the future.”
- See more related articles
You must be logged in to post a comment.