Invest KOREA

According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL=Yonhap News) On July 11, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) and Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KIBO) selected 13 enterprises deemed to have potential to grow to a unicorn (a startup valued more than KRW 1 trillion).

13 enterprises selected through "Pre-unicorn special guarantee" program received a certificate of guarantee from MSS and KIBO.

They are selected as "pre-unicorn" after passing the deliberation conducted since the end of April.

"Pre-unicorn special guarantee program" is to provide "Scale-up" finance of up to KRW 10 billion to enterprises with potential to grow into a unicorn. The decision is made based on three criteria including market verification, growth potential and innovative quality.

13 enterprises will receive up to KRW 10 billion (KRW 111.5 billion in total) in consideration of sales forecast, etc.

MSS explained that these 13 have demonstrated higher sales growth momentum, job creation, and investment amount, and many of them are currently generating deficits in operating profit as they made investment in advance to boost growth.

At the event, "current unicorns" including Representative Kwon Oh-sub of L&P Cosmetics and CEO Lee Seung-gun of Viva Republica joined and shared their story of becoming a unicorn.

After the ceremony, "Unicorn Talk Concert" was held with a title of "Creating a market condition for unicorn companies and the role of government".

MSS said the talk concert was prepared to listen to the voices on the field and incorporate their voices into government policies to stimulate a second venture boom.

The talk concert was attended by Minister Park Young-sun of MSS, President Jeong Yoon-mo of KIBO, CEOs of 7 unicorn companies and CEOs of 13 pre-unicorns.

Minister Park said, "Unicorn companies are the fruition of second venture boom, and main actors for job creation and vitalization of ecology venture," adding that "We will spare no efforts in achieving the goal of 20 unicorn companies."



vivid@yna.co.kr

Copyrights Yonhap News. All Rights Reserved.
Reprint or redistribution without permission is prohibited.

Source Text

Source: Yonhap News (July 11, 2019)

** This article was translated from Korean.