The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Oh Young-joo, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups) announced on the 29th that it will recruit overseas startups to participate in the '2025 K-Startup Grand Challenge'.
The K-Startup Grand Challenge is a representative inbound startup support program that began in 2016 to discover promising overseas startups and attract them to Korea.
If selected for the K-Startup Grand Challenge, programs necessary for entering the Korean market, such as product/service localization, business partner matching, and incorporation, will be provided, and if selected as an excellent company at the ComeUp Demo Day, a prize of up to 100 million won will be awarded.
In order to improve the policy performance of this project, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups expanded opportunities for overseas startups to participate and reorganized the program to be more business-friendly.
First, we expanded the recruitment scale from 40 teams to 80 teams, and diversified the discovery channels, such as receiving recommendations through embassies and K-Scouters of each country.
In addition, we have greatly eased the burden on overseas startups by allowing employees other than representatives to participate in the program and supporting online participation in consulting and business meetings.
In addition, we have assigned dedicated managers* to provide close support to each company, and have upgraded the program to focus on practical business support such as establishing strategies for entering the Korean market and localization, matching with business partners such as large and medium-sized companies, and holding investment attraction briefing sessions.
Kyungwon Cho, Director of Startup Policy, said, “We will actively attract excellent overseas startups by providing customized support at each stage, from exploring the Korean market to growth, through the newly reorganized K-Startup Grand Challenge,” and “We hope that through the influx of overseas startups, our startup ecosystem will secure global diversity and take a leap forward through new stimulation.”
For more detailed information about the business, please refer to the announcement on the website of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups or the official website of the K-Startup Grand Challenge.
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