The Korea Institute for Startups & Entrepreneurship Development (Acting President Choi Yeol-soo) announced that it has begun recruiting teams for the nation's largest inter-ministerial startup competition, "Challenge! K-Startup 2025," hosted by 10 ministries including the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Oh Young-joo), Ministry of Education (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lee Joo-ho), Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Yoo Sang-im), Ministry of National Defense (Acting Minister Kim Seon-ho), Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister Yoo In-chon), Ministry of Environment (Minister Kim Wan-seop), Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (Acting Minister Shin Young-sook), Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Minister Park Sang-woo), Defense Acquisition Program Administration (Administrator Seok Jong-geon), and Korean Intellectual Property Office (Administrator Kim Wan-ki).
'Challenge! K-Startup', which has produced numerous excellent startups over the past 10 years, is a dream stage where an average of 5,700 teams (6,238 teams in '24) participate every year. In 2024, Biobricks Co., Ltd. and Watertreenes Co., Ltd. won the grand prize, making their innovative technology known to the world.
This year, the Content League (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) will be newly established and expanded to a total of 10 ministries and 12 preliminary leagues. Starting with the integrated announcement in February, preliminary leagues for each ministry will be held until August, and 225 (potential) startup teams that passed the preliminary round through fierce competition will compete once again in the integrated main round, and only 30 teams will advance to the final stage, the King of Kings.
In December, the highly anticipated King of Kings competition will select the 10 best startup companies and 10 prospective startup teams that will shine in Korea this year, and award them with a total prize money of 1.4 billion won (up to 300 million won) and the highest honors such as the Presidential Award and the Prime Minister's Award. In addition, the King of Kings competition will be held in conjunction with the global startup festival 'COMEUP', so the teams that advance to the King of Kings competition will have the opportunity to pitch in front of global investors.
Newmus CEO Park Joo-young (2024 Grand Prize Winner) said, “Participating in the Challenge K-Startup played a decisive role in securing talent and strengthening teamwork,” and “Thanks to this, we were able to achieve results such as attracting actual investment and signing a CDA with a global corporation.”
In addition, Design & Practice CEO Jeong Sang-yeon (2024 Grand Prize Winner) said, “Having undergone training to present within a limited time frame was a great help in developing the ability to deliver business items with impact,” and “Challenge! The K-Startup award played a positive role in motivating team members.”
Airability CEO Jinmo Lee (2024 Excellence Award winner) also said, “After receiving the award, we received love calls from drone-related companies in the U.S., and were able to raise our global awareness in one fell swoop.” He also revealed that the startups that won awards at this competition have laid the foundation for them to leap forward as innovative companies after participating in the competition.
'Challenge! K-Startup 2025' is waiting for the challenge of (potential) entrepreneurs with innovative ideas and passion. (potential) entrepreneurs who wish to participate should check the integrated announcement and detailed recruitment announcement for each preliminary league posted on the K-Startup website and apply during the corresponding application period.
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