Gov’t to support start-ups to advance overseas

The South Korean government will collaborate with global companies such as Amazon and Airbus to support Korean startups' overseas advancement in earnest. Its goal is to foster ‘globally-recognized unicorns,’ startups with a corporate value of 1 billion dollars or more, and expand the reach of the startup ecosystem, which is currently centered on the domestic market, to become more global.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced Thursday the ‘K-Startup Global Advancement Strategy’ containing the above content at the contingency economic minister’s meeting.

First of all, from next year, together with nine global companies such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Airbus, and Oracle, the government plans to help 270 domestic start-ups advance to overseas markets by providing them with opportunities to promote to partner companies. The number of domestic conglomerates that help startups with overseas advancement will jump from the current five to 10, and this will help 140 promising startups in different industries. Private consulting will be offered with globalization strategies for up-and-coming startups discovered by the ministry, such as potential unicorn companies.

An event will be held in the U.S. within this month to provide networking opportunities between domestic startups, global conglomerates, and venture capitalists. In addition, it plans to turn over the operation of ‘COMEUP,’ a domestic startup event, to the private sector to help make it into a global startup festival. By utilizing the overseas infrastructure of domestic companies such as Lotte Ventures, it also plans to increase overseas bases, such as opening ‘K-Startup Center’ in Vietnam next year.

Technology-based start-up visa, which is mainly renewed once a year for foreign entrepreneurs, will be renewed every two years with the recommendation letter from the government. By simplifying visa requirements for talents recommended by relevant ministry or agency, the government will also vitalize the ministry recommendation system for the Special Activity visa. It will also commence the introduction of a venture investment mechanism that meets global standards.


cero@donga.com