Consortium Formed with 10 Organizations and Companies
Enhanced Support Benefits for Startups
[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] KB Kookmin Card announced on the 13th that it is recruiting companies to participate in the 4th 'Future Nine' program, which discovers and nurtures startups leading future lifestyle innovation in nine areas including finance and data.
The 4th program diversified recruitment methods such as rolling recruitment and intensive recruitment, and strengthened support for participating companies by forming a consortium with public institutions, startup nurturing and support organizations, and investment institutions.
Rolling recruitment will be conducted until the end of the year targeting companies with innovative capabilities related to technology, products, and services in nine areas closely linked to the card business: ▲financial platforms and fintech ▲big data and artificial intelligence ▲new businesses ▲food and living ▲commerce and marketing solutions ▲mobility ▲education and kids ▲entertainment ▲wellness.
Intensive recruitment will be conducted until June 10 targeting startups related to 'untact' such as contactless payment, remote work, and home training, as well as startups related to open innovation that can closely collaborate in discovering new platforms, new technology-based businesses, and hyper-personalization areas.
Through rolling and intensive recruitment, about 10 startups will be selected after document screening and interviews among the companies applying to participate in the program.
In the second half of the year, a consortium recruitment will also be conducted to jointly recruit and nurture startups capable of collaboration in areas such as ▲subscription economy ▲revitalization of existing card business in partnership with Seoul Creative Economy Innovation Center, Korea International Trade Association, and others.
The 4th program forms a consortium with a total of 10 institutions and companies including ▲public institutions (Seoul Creative Economy Innovation Center, Korea International Trade Association, Korea Development Bank) ▲accelerators and nurturing support organizations (Hanwha Dreamplus, The Invention Lab, N15, Xplit) ▲investment institutions (KB Securities, Sejong Venture Partners, Open Water Investment) to provide various support benefits and conduct joint nurturing activities for participating companies.
Startups participating in the program will receive benefits such as ▲joint business promotion with KB Kookmin Card ▲opportunities to utilize various infrastructures owned by KB Kookmin Card such as big data ▲support for prototype production ▲support for product and service sales and distribution channels ▲diagnosis and consulting on user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) ▲office space support ▲various education, mentoring, and coaching ▲investment support using dedicated funds.
A KB Kookmin Card official said, "We plan to promote new business collaboration through linkage with major affiliates and business models of KB Financial Group and support follow-up investment attraction if necessary," adding, "At the end of the year, we will also hold a 'Demo Day' to introduce the program's achievements and collaboration cases of participating startups to major stakeholders including professional investors."
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