The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Oh Young-joo, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups) held the '2025 Startup Korea Fund Launch Ceremony' at the M Gallery of Hotel Naru Seoul on the 24th together with participating investment organizations of the Startup Korea Fund.
The 'Startup Korea Fund' is a fund created by large corporations, SMEs, financial institutions, and the government to focus on investing in deep-tech startups that are challenging the global market. It is characterized by the government providing enhanced incentives such as priority loss reserves, additional points for joint growth evaluation, and government awards to encourage the private sector to make more bold venture investments. This has doubled the effect of the fund's private capital attraction by lowering the government's financial contribution while increasing the private capital contribution.
In 2024, the first year of the fund's launch, 19 private investors invested 326 billion won and the government's mother fund invested 229.5 billion won, creating a venture fund worth a total of 873.3 billion won. Within a few months of its formation, these funds invested a total of 27.5 billion won in 20 companies, including deep tech companies in the AI, bio, and robotics fields, and full-scale investment is expected to begin this year.
This year, 30 private investors have invested more than 250 billion won, and the government plans to match more than 170 billion won in government finances, and invest approximately 420 billion won in public-private joint investment, and create a venture fund of approximately 600 billion won. When combined with the 873.3 billion won established last year, a total of 1.5 trillion won in the Startup Korea Fund will be created over two years ('24~'25).
Key features of this year’s Startup Korea Fund include:
First, we expanded the role of the 'public-private joint venture investment platform' that draws out bold private investment. We attracted many new investors who had no experience in venture capital fund investment, and institutions that had experience in venture capital fund investment significantly expanded their investment scale with the Startup Korea Fund as an opportunity.
First of all, 10 companies including Cosmax, Spoon Labs, Tokyo Seige Center, and Sungkyunkwan University Technology Holding Company have made venture investments for the first time through the Startup Korea Fund this year. Among them, Spoon Labs is a senior company that has grown by attracting venture investments and has invested in junior venture and startups, while Tokyo Seige Center, a Korean company in Japan, is even more meaningful in that it has participated to support domestic venture and startups.
Twenty companies with past venture capital fund investment experience also significantly increased their investment scale compared to the previous year by participating in this year's Startup Korea Fund.
Second, starting this year, we will establish a new field called ‘Open Innovation’ to promote strategic collaboration between large corporations, SMEs, and venture/startup companies through venture investment. Including the ‘K-Beauty Fund’ launched on April 10, a fund worth over 200 billion won will be created for open innovation in strategic fields such as bio and semiconductors.
In particular, a fund to promote strategic collaboration in the bio sector will be created as a follow-up to the 'Pharmaceutical and Bio Venture Innovation Ecosystem Creation Plan' announced in January of this year. Japan's largest CRO company, 'CMIC', participated to support cooperation with domestic bio ventures and startups and entry into the Japanese market, and the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio Association formed a joint consortium with 15 member companies to seek new growth engines for the pharmaceutical and bio industry, participating in venture investment for the first time.
In addition, LX Semicon has established an open innovation fund specializing in the system semiconductor sector, and NH Nonghyup Financial Group, Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance, POSCO Holdings, and GS Engineering & Construction have participated to seek cooperation with deep tech ventures and startups across their existing business areas.
Minister of SMEs and Startups Oh Young-joo said, “We will support the leap forward as a global deep-tech powerhouse by expanding the role of the Startup Korea Fund as a platform that provides open innovation opportunities between members of the deep-tech ecosystem and encourages more companies and financial institutions to participate in the venture investment market.”
Meanwhile, the 'Startup Korea Fund' will begin with the launch ceremony today, and the '25-year investment project' will be announced in May, with full-scale fund raising, including selection of an operator, starting in the second half of the year.
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