The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Oh Young-joo, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups) announced that it will invest a total of 310 billion won through the second regular investment announcement for the mother fund. The plan is to create a venture fund of approximately 570 billion won through this. The investment amount is 300 billion won for the NEXT UNICORN Project (2nd supplementary budget) and 10 billion won for small-scale startups in the early stages.
First, we will begin in earnest to foster AI and deep-tech unicorns through the 'NEXT UNICORN Project' reflected in the '2nd supplementary budget for 25 years. The 'NEXT UNICORN Project' is a dedicated program that supports large-scale concentrated investment by growth stage, going beyond segmented and sprinkled investment in promising companies in the AI and deep-tech fields. This investment project will invest a total of 300 billion won in the 'startup' and 'scale-up' fields to create a venture fund of more than 550 billion won.
The 'Startup' fund supports initial investment in AI and deep tech startups with specialized technical personnel, and the 'Scaleup' fund supports scale-up investment of an average of KRW 10 billion or more per company in AI and deep tech SMEs. In particular, the 'Scaleup' fund will focus on investing in 'NEXT UNICORN Pool' companies recommended by public institutions as excellent performing companies among companies participating in the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' support projects, and will support the scale-up of excellent companies fostered through startup and venture support projects.
Next, we will invest 10 billion won in the 'early-stage small-scale' sector to create a 16.7 billion won venture fund. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups is creating a 169.9 billion won venture fund by investing a total of 99.5 billion won in the 'early-stage small-scale' sector through the first regular investment project this year. In this investment project, we will additionally select a 16.7 billion won early-stage small-scale fund to provide investment incentives to early-stage startups that have recently had difficulty attracting investment. The investment scale is 85 billion won for general early-stage startups and 14.5 billion won for early-stage small-scale startups.
Kim Bong-deok, director general of venture policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, “Amid accelerating competition for global AI and deep tech technological hegemony, AI and deep tech venture investment must expand dramatically in order for domestic ventures and startups to grow into unicorns leading the global market.” He added, “We will swiftly proceed with the investment project so that the ‘NEXT UNICORN Project,’ which took its first step through the second supplementary budget this year, can quickly lead to investment, and we will expand the mother fund’s investment in the AI and deep tech sector in the future.”
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