The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Oh Young-joo, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups) announced on the 13th that it held the '25-Year Ultra-Gap Startup Renovation Day' event at the Fairmont Ambassador Hotel in Seoul to share the achievements of support policies to date for '25-year new ultra-gap startups' and announce new global scale-up support policies.
This event was prepared to share the achievements of the 'Super Gap Startup 1000+ Project' (hereinafter referred to as the Super Gap Project), the only multi-year technology commercialization project promoted by the government since 2023 by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Institute of Startups and Entrepreneurship Development to professionally foster deep-tech startups in new industries, breaking away from industry-neutral support policies, and to announce a scale-up project to support super-gap startups so that they can successfully settle into the global market and grow into key players.
◆ Results of selection of new super gap startups
The 'Super Gap Startup 1000+ Project' (DIPS 1000+) is a project that selects over 1,000 excellent deep-tech startups that will lead the future of the national economy in 10 new industries, including AI and system semiconductors, for a period of five years from 2023 to 2027 and fosters them into global unicorns through intensive support. As of last year, 407 companies have been selected and are being fostered.
This year, we recruited deep tech startups with unique technologies through various methods such as general public offering, private verification, and ministry recommendations, and 182 companies were ultimately selected after overcoming the high competition rate of 13.7:1 (based on general public offering).
The selected startups will receive direct support of up to KRW 600 million in commercialization funds over three years and up to KRW 600 million in R&D funds after separate evaluation based on corporate needs, for a total of KRW 1.1 billion, and can also receive linked support in the form of policy funds, guarantees, exports, etc.
In addition, through specialized institutions in each field, such as Seoul National University's System Semiconductor Industry Promotion Center and the Artificial Intelligence Industry Convergence Business Group, support will be provided for technology development and commercialization utilizing infrastructure such as research equipment, collaboration with large corporations, investment attraction, and global expansion.
In addition, among the startups that received support from the existing 'Innovation Field Startup Package Project for 3 years from 2020', 15 startups with excellent sales, employment, and investment performance were selected as beneficiaries of the follow-up support project (Beyond-Super Gap) through a separate evaluation.
Excellent startups selected for follow-up support will receive follow-up business funds of up to KRW 1 billion for global scale-up over the next two years.
◆ Performance of supporting ultra-gap startups
Through the 'Super Gap Project' that has been promoted since 2023, two deep tech unicorns, including Rebellion, were born out of a total of 407 super gap startups, and 51 potential unicorn companies with a corporate value of over 100 billion won were created.
In addition, the results of a performance survey on 407 ultra-gap startups selected between 2023 and 2024 showed that sales increased by 4.4%, employment increased by 18.5%, and cumulative investment attracted increased by 43.2% compared to before support, securing management performance.
In addition, through the 'Specialized Investment Attraction and Scale-up Program', 7 startups attracted 32 billion won in investment, 9 companies were listed on KOSDAQ, and 35 companies won innovation awards at CES 2024 and 2025.
◆ Global scale-up support policy
First, we will establish and promote the 'Super Gap Link-up' program to support sales channels, investment attraction, and global expansion through collaboration between anchor organizations such as large corporations and super gap startups in four fields, including bio and robotics, among the super gap fields where collaboration demand is high and performance creation is expected.
Next, in order to accelerate the attraction of investment in ultra-gap startups, we will establish the 'Ultra-gap VC Membership', a consultative body comprised of VCs, CVCs, etc. that hold major deep-tech funds, and promote regular investment attraction events, providing open innovation opportunities, and networking.
Lastly, we will establish and promote the 'Ultra-Gap Tech-IPO Connect' program to strengthen global scale-up by focusing on supporting IPOs of ultra-gap startups through a consultative body comprised of large securities firms that are IPO underwriters and securities firms specializing in small and medium-sized enterprises and venture companies.
◆ Super Gap Startup Renovation Day
The event began with a plaque presentation ceremony by Minister Oh Young-joo for 10 representative ultra-gap startups selected this year in 10 ultra-gap fields, including Mango Boost Co., Ltd. in the system semiconductor field, followed by a report on the selection process by the representative of the ultra-gap evaluation committee, an announcement of support results, and an announcement of new support policies.
In particular, the presentation on best practices for scale-up support by CEO Jooyoung Kim of HyperExcel, which was selected as a super-gap startup in 2023, and the vision presentation by CEO Seyoung Lee of Luton Technologies, which was newly selected, received enthusiastic responses from the attendees.
Minister Oh Young-joo said, “Over the past two years, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ Super Gap Project has created many achievements for deep tech startups, but the field is still asking for more support.” He added, “The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will continue to provide comprehensive support through various policies so that our country’s deep tech startups can use the Super Gap Project as a stepping stone to become global unicorns.”
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