“Less than 2% are actually invested by VC among domestic startups. Our reality is that the remaining 98% or more must be supported by institutions such as the financial industry or the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups wants to play a role as strong bridge so that domestic startups can overcome difficult situation!”
Minister of SMEs and Startups Young Lee, who attended the global startup event ‘COMEUP 2022’ held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) on the 9th, poured out plans for practical support for companies.
In the Fireside Chat, which was held right after the COMEUP 2022 opening ceremony, Minister of SMEs and Startups, Young Lee and Chairman of Korea Startup Forum, Jae-wook Park (CEO of SOCAR) had a straightforward discussion with the topic of 'Top 3 Startup Ecosystem Issues in 2022' for about 30 minutes.
At the opening conference held at 10:10 AM, Minister of SMEs and Startups, Young Lee, picked △Regulation Reform △Global as keywords for issues in the startup industry.
Minister Young Lee said, “At a time when the 4th industrial revolution is in full swing and the transition to a non-face-to-face digital economy due to COVID-19 is accelerating, the laws and systems we currently have are old ones created in the industrialization era. As a result, we were able to see cases where startups are getting blocked when want to run. In order to boldly unravel these regulations, we selected regulatory reform as our first keyword.”
She continued, “Our startup ecosystem is showing tremendous progress if we compare the current one with the past. This is the result of the efforts of many related workers and the private sector, and because of to this, Korea has more than 23 unicorn companies. On the other hand, we are still thirst for global expansion. As we desperately need a global startup, we selected global as the second keyword.”
Jae-wook Park, chairman of the Korea Startup Forum (CEO of SOCAR), picked △survival as an issue keyword unlike Minister Young Lee.
Chairman Park said, “Not only the global but also the domestic economic situation is changing rapidly. The situation in which it was difficult to receive investment as in the past has returned. In other words, the liquidity party is over." to face the current crisis situation. He continued, "The current economic downturn will not end anytime soon. We have to abandon the method of simply spending money to grow. Now is the time to calmly judge whether if we have a business model (BM) that can be carried out in the market and whether it can be used to earn real profits."
Minister of SMEs and Startups, Young Lee, came up with four strategies in order to aid startup companies. She brought up various financial supports by saying, “First, funding is very important for startups. We will make sure that the 8.3 trillion KRW venture fund that has already been created can actually be used for startups. Second, in addition to government-centered fund-raising funds, we will make sure private funds are also creating various support measures to lead companies together.”
She continued, “The third is the inflow of global funds. Because of uncertainty in the current global economic situation, investments may be reduced, but the basic purpose of investing in startups with growth potential remains unchanged. We will continue to collaborate with many global companies.”
For the fourth strategy, she said, “Survival was mentioned just before, and less than 2% of domestic companies actually received investment from VC (Venture Capital). The rest of the companies are all receiving support from institutions such as the financial sector and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. Support from policy funds is essential for startups to grow to get VC investments and become unicorns. With the financial industry, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is reviewing various strategies to make the survival bridge of startups.”
Lastly, Minister Lee said, “We are planning to announce an additional mid-term financial support plan of 50 trillion KRW at the end of the year. we will further expand the loan and guarantee sector.”
Having its 4th iteration this year, ‘COMEUP 2022’ was hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Young Lee) and organized by the Korea Startup Forum (Chairman Jae-wook Park). It was attended by innovative startups, investors, and people related to startups from Korea and overseas, and this year in particular was the start of COMEUP’s rebranding from the previous government-private collaboration to the private-led event that it is now, as it aims to become a global Top 5 startup event. With the slogan of ‘WE MOVE THE WORLD’, the event was conducted both on and offline, and had various programs like the Academic Conferences (Conference), Open Innovation Strategy of Global Companies (Open Innovation), COMEUP Stars Company Introduction (IR) and Booth Exhibitions, and Business Matching (Biz Matching).