South Korea's Startup Ecosystem News Digest

S.Korea's Ministry of SMEs & Startups has Selected 65 Prospective Baby Unicorns

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 27th that it has finally selected 50 'baby unicorns' and 15 'preliminary unicorns' that have a high potential to grow into global unicorn companies. Through the 'Global Unicorn Project' promoted since 2019, 250 baby unicorns and 111 preliminary unicorns have been selected, and in this final selection stage, 199 companies applied for the baby unicorn nurturing project and 107 companies applied for the preliminary unicorn special guarantee, showing a competition ratio of about 4:1 and 7:1, respectively.

Companies selected as baby unicorns will be provided with market development funds (up to 300 million won), and in particular, this year, a special guarantee (up to 5 billion won) of the Technology Guarantee Fund was newly established so that baby unicorn companies can quickly and smoothly secure growth funds.

In addition to a special guarantee of up to 20 billion won per company, companies selected as preliminary unicorns will be given an additional 30% guarantee limit to the top 30% of companies that received excellent scores in the final evaluation to accelerate global expansion.

In addition, in order to strategically support the company's entry into the global market, it plans to match private professional consulting agencies to support customized growth, and strengthen non-financial support such as IR support for domestic and foreign venture capitalists to help baby unicorns grow into preliminary unicorns and pre-unicorns into global unicorns.

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Naver Blog Launches 'Photo Dump Challenge'...

Naver announced on the 25th that it will start the 2024 Blog Photo Dump Challenge by October. 'Photo Dump' refers to a social media trend in which people attach multiple photos of their daily life and tastes to a single post and freely record comments on the photos. It's not about choosing a picture that captures the perfect look, but about filling the post with photos that show a natural look in a relaxed atmosphere, even if it's not perfect. Recently, there is a culture among Generation Z, which is sensitive to trends, to record photo dumps on various topics such as daily life, travel, reading, and wish lists.

This Photodump Challenge will be divided into two seasons and two tracks. Season 1 will run from June 24 to August 18, and Season 2 will run from September 2 to October 28. In addition, there is a 'Daily' track where you can freely record your daily life and thoughts without embellishment, and a 'Special' track where you can choose and write a topic you want, such as fashion, pets, cooking, travel, gourmet, and hobbies, and you can participate in both tracks repeatedly.

It's easy to participate in the challenge. Participants can select the challenge track they want to challenge on the challenge page and publish a post in the challenge category at least once a week during the challenge period, adding at least 7 photos and descriptions. The first post published each week among the posts in the challenge category will be counted as a challenge participation, and if you participate in both tracks, you must write a participation post in the daily category and a special category, respectively. Participants can check their participation status at a glance on the stamp board on the challenge page.

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 Kakao Pay Offline First Pay Benefit 3% on every transaction

Kakao Pay announced on the 25th that it has once again expanded benefits for users who use offline payment services. Kakao Pay users can earn up to 33,000 won in Kakao Pay points for a month.

Kakao Pay will extend the promotion until August 11, where you can get 1,000 won back in Kakao Pay Points when you make your first payment of 1,000 won or more on the Kakao Pay app. The first time you pay with a barcode on the Kakao Pay app, the first time you use Samsung Pay payment on the Kakao Pay app, and the first time you use Zero Pay payment on the Kakao Pay app, you can receive a total of 3,000 won in Kakao Pay points, 1,000 won each. It has also expanded the scope of the first payment reward. In the previous promotion, benefits were provided when paying with Kakao Pay Money, but in the extended promotion, benefits can be received not only when paying with Kakao Pay Money but also when paying with credit and debit cards registered with Kakao Pay.

Even if it's not your first payment, you can earn up to 3% of the payment amount as Kakao Pay Points with the 'Carpay Bag' benefit. Even if you pay with Kakao Pay Money through the Kakao Pay app at offline stores, you can earn 0.5% of the payment amount as Kakao Pay Points. When you select Samsung Pay or Zero Pay in the Kakao Pay app and pay with Kakao Pay Money, you will receive the same earning benefits. In addition, if the previous month's Kakao Pay payment performance is satisfied, the point accumulation rate will increase to 2%, and a total of 3% of the payment amount will be credited as Kakao Pay points when paying at the user's favorite store. The carpet bag will run until August 31.

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Gyeongsangnam-do forms 3 billion won 'Rycon Startup Fund'

  Gyeongsangnam-do (Governor Park Wan-sang) will form the Rycon Startup Fund, which invests in 'entrepreneurial small business owners' for the first time in Gyeongsangnam, with a size of 3 billion won, and will start investing for the next three years.'Entrepreneurial small business owners' are small business owners who aim for growth by creating new values and innovative business models based on entrepreneurship, etc., and 'Lycon' is the policy direction and brand of the Ministry of SMEs.This fund will receive 1.8 billion won from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' parent fund, 300 million won from Gyeongsangnam-do, 500 million won from Changwon-si, and 400 million won from other funds, and will invest up to 2.4 billion won in entrepreneurial small businesses in the province for three years from this year.The investment targets are ▲ companies that have a track record of participating in and receiving support for entrepreneurial small business development programs ▲ companies that represent individuals who have a history of participating in entrepreneurial small business development programs ▲ companies with business establishments located in commercial zones under the Traditional Market Act or autonomous commercial zones under the Regional Commercial Zone Act ▲ small business owners (including cooperatives) who are corporations among entrepreneurial small businesses that create new added value through 'manufacturing-based and service innovation' in the field of life and culture such as food and clothing.

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Kakao to hold in-house hackathon '2024 24K'

Kakao announced on the 27th that it will hold an in-house hackathon '2024 24K' at the Kakao AI Campus for 27 days and 1 night from the 27th. This hackathon was prepared as a process of freely presenting and implementing various ideas so that Kakao can be reborn as an 'AI native company'.

Kakao's in-house hackathon was first held in 2013 and is now in its sixth year, and it is a place of communication where you can get a glimpse of Kakao's working style and culture. Hackathon is a compound word of 'hacking' and 'marathon' and refers to the process of developers and service planners gathering in one place to solve a specific topic.

24K is an abbreviation for 24 hours for Krew, and Kakao crew members from various fields such as development, design, and planning participate as individuals or teams to implement their ideas into prototypes.

More than 170 people from 50 teams participated in this event, and the winners of the main prize will be selected through the preliminary and final screening. In line with the theme, this year's event will be held at the Kakao AI Campus located in Yongin, Gyeonggi City.

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Virtual Asset User Protection Act and Self Regulation

With the Virtual Asset User Protection Act coming into effect next month, the Financial Supervisory Service has emphasized the self-regulation of virtual asset operators. Since there is still a regulatory gap in the first phase of the bill, it is necessary to compensate for it through self-regulation and create a more advanced market.

At the 'Virtual Asset User Protection Act and Future Tasks' held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 27th, Ahn Byung-nam, head of the Virtual Asset Supervision Bureau of the Financial Supervisory Service, emphasized the self-regulation of virtual asset operators. Ahn said, "There is clearly a regulatory gap in the first phase of the bill. This is because the main purpose of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act is to prevent unfair transactions and protect users' assets," he said, adding, "It does not reflect entry regulations and issuance regulations."

"Despite the fact that there are a lot of illegal activities in the market, we demanded that the National Assembly establish self-regulation for the parts that were not included in the first phase of the bill, so we prepared self-regulation together with the Digital Asset Exchange Association (DAXA) and virtual asset exchanges," Ahn said.

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SparkLabs fosters AI startups in Saudi Arabia

SparkLabs Group, which operates global accelerators and venture capital, announced on the 28th that it will lead 'AIM-X', an artificial intelligence (AI) startup accelerator program in Saudi Arabia.

AIM-X is part of the Saudi government's national initiative to innovate in the field of AI. It is a core program promoted as part of the Artificial Intelligence Mission (M). Current AI. M is jointly founded and participated by ▲NTDP, a Saudi government startup fostering agency, ▲King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and ▲Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Agency (SDAIA) with the goal of internalizing the AI business in Korea within 5 years and leaping forward as a global AI leading country.

Through AIM-X, SparkLabs Group selects nurturing companies through a systematic screening of early-stage AI startups around the world, and provides benefits such as customized mentoring and networking by AI experts to grow based on Saudi Arabia and increase global competitiveness, along with an investment of up to $200,000 (about 270 million won).

In particular, in order to provide high-quality mentoring to selected companies, SparkLab Group led by Amar Awadala, co-founder and CEO of the AI search platform 'Bektara', ▲ Cha Sang-gyun, the first dean of Seoul National University's Graduate School of Data Science ▲ venture investor and fintech· AI expert Spyros Margaris ▲ Niels Westerland, who led the growth team of Runway ML, an AI-based video editing and creation service provider, and other top authorities in the field of AI were formed as advisors.

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Seoul and Busan should become the two pillars of entrepreneurship in order for Korea to survive.

As the young population leaves for the metropolitan area, the number of start-up companies in Busan is also only 68,332 (2023). This is 5.5% of the total number of start-up companies in the country (1,238,617). This is in contrast to Seoul (230,141), Gyeonggi (369,562), and Incheon (78,930), where more than half of all start-up companies are concentrated in the metropolitan area. 

KDB started operating the platform 'V:Launch' last year to support the investment and market development of promising startups in the Southeast region. Through this, nine companies, including Christine Company, a digital transformation startup in the shoe manufacturing process, and Sendy, a freight transportation platform, attracted an investment of 109.4 billion won.

On the 25th, the Korea Development Bank launched the 'Busan Future Growth Venture Fund' worth 100 billion won with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. It is an indirect fund that invests in venture funds that focus on investing in the Busan region. It is expected that it will not only be able to nurture specialized investment institutions in the Southeast region, but also become a primer for attracting funds from leading investment institutions in the metropolitan area and the world.

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