The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Oh Young-joo, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups) announced on December 31st that it would be announcing the '2025 Central Government and Local Government Startup Support Project Integrated Notice' worth a total of KRW 3.294 trillion.
This integrated announcement of startup support projects includes 429 projects across 101 organizations, with a total budget of 3.294 trillion won. The central government, including the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, will provide 3.119 trillion won in support to 87 projects across 13 ministries. Local governments, including the Seoul Metropolitan Government, will provide 175 billion won in support to 342 projects across 88 organizations.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups has been announcing startup support programs in an integrated manner since 2016 to provide startups and prospective entrepreneurs with information on startup support programs in an easy-to-understand manner.
◆ Status by business type
By type of support project (8 types), loans accounted for the largest proportion (47.1%) at KRW 1.5552 trillion (12 projects), followed by commercialization at KRW 766.6 billion (23.3%) and technology development at KRW 629.2 billion (19.1%).
◆ Status by institution
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups provides the largest budget of KRW 2.9499 trillion (94.6% of the total budget of central government ministries), and central government ministries (13 ministries), including the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (KRW 53 billion), the Ministry of Science and ICT (KRW 45.4 billion), and the Ministry of Environment (KRW 23.7 billion), provide a total of KRW 3.119 trillion (87 projects).
In particular, the Ministry of Unification and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) will establish a startup support program for the first time in 2025. The DAPA will provide 1.3 billion won in support to three projects, including the Defense Industry Innovation Cluster (Daejeon and Gumi) and the Defense Technology Startup Competition. The Ministry of Unification will provide 800 million won to three projects, including a business improvement fund support program for North Korean defectors and a management consulting support program.
Local governments (17 metropolitan and 71 basic) plan to invest a total of KRW 175 billion in 342 projects, including KRW 38.2 billion in Seoul, KRW 20 billion in Gyeonggi, and KRW 18.6 billion in Gyeongnam.
◆ Major startup support projects
[Commercialization] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will support approximately 669 promising startups in 10 emerging industries, including system semiconductors and bio/healthcare, through the "Super Gap Startup 1000+ Project," with a budget of KRW 131 billion. This project will support commercialization and growth. Furthermore, the Ministry will establish a "Deep Tech Value-Up Specialized Program" with a budget of KRW 7 billion to support approximately 50 companies, enabling ventures and startups with innovative technologies to collaborate with large corporations to meet their needs.
The Ministry of Environment will implement a startup fund support and nurturing program for 210 prospective entrepreneurs and startups with promising startup items in the green industry sector with a budget of 23 billion won through the 'Eco-Startup Support Project.'
[Technology Development] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to provide technology development support of up to 1.5 billion won for up to 3 years to approximately 1,050 startups with less than 7 years of operation and annual sales of less than 2 billion won, with a total of 596 billion won (an increase of 64.3 billion won from the previous year) through the ‘Startup Growth Technology Development’ project.
The Ministry of Science and ICT will support researchers at universities and research institutes in starting businesses through four projects, including the “Public Technology-Based Market-Linked Startup Exploration Support (KRW 10.7 billion, supporting 100 lab startup teams)” and the “Laboratory-Specialized Startup Leading University Project (KRW 10.7 billion, supporting 116 labs)” with KRW 31.2 billion (an increase of KRW 24.7 billion for two projects compared to the previous year).
[Global] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to support approximately 353 companies with 53 billion won through the 'Global Corporate Collaboration Program' to enable startups to collaborate with leading global companies and have opportunities to enter overseas markets. In addition, starting in 2025, the Ministry will establish a new 'Startup Legal Support Project' with a budget of 1.8 billion won to support approximately 600 companies with legal consultations on regulations, funding, investment, and contracts.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will support approximately 85 companies with a budget of 2.5 billion won through the "Global Expansion Support Program" to help content startups expand overseas, attract investment, and foster global exchange.
[Re-entrepreneurship] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will expand its re-entrepreneurship loan fund to KRW 200 billion (KRW 100 billion in 2024) to help entrepreneurs who have failed despite diligent management to try again.
Local governments such as Gyeonggi Province (support for re-challenge of technology startups, KRW 300 million), Gwangju City (support for re-challenge of startups, KRW 200 million), and Jeju Island (support for re-challenge of youth DREAM startups, KRW 140 million) are supporting successful re-startups through education, mentoring, and commercialization.
[Local Startups] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups has designated nine universities with outstanding startup support capabilities as "Entrepreneurship-focused Universities." With a budget of 77.5 billion won, the Ministry will select approximately 800 (potential) startups and provide commercialization funding. Furthermore, 17 Creative Economy Innovation Centers nationwide will provide a budget of 36.4 billion won to support networking between startups and investors, investment briefings, and various open innovation activities with large and medium-sized enterprises.
Seoul City and 13 autonomous districts, including Gwanak-gu, will establish startup infrastructure, including the Seoul Startup Hub (4 locations, KRW 11 billion) and Fintech Lab (2 locations, KRW 10 billion), and support the clustering and growth of startups centered around Gwanak S Valley.
◆ Individual business announcement information
Detailed information on the integrated announcement for startup support projects can be found on the 'K-Startup Portal' and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups website .
In addition, the detailed announcements for each project in the 2025 Integrated Startup Support Project will be made individually on the websites of the relevant ministries and local governments.
Kyung-won Cho, Director of Startup Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, “Starting with this integrated announcement, we plan to actively support next year as well so that anyone can create jobs by starting a business based on creative ideas and innovative technologies.”
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