Busan City Provides Emergency Funding to 250 Tech Startup Companies

Companies with sales down 30% from last year between January and April receive 1 million won

A view of Busan City Hall. Busan City provides emergency funds of 1 million won each to 250 technology startup companies.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Busan City is promoting an emergency support project for technology startup companies facing management difficulties due to decreased production, investment, and consumption amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

On the 27th, the city announced that it will carry out the "Emergency Support for Technology Startup Companies to Overcome the COVID-19 Crisis" project in collaboration with the Busan Economic Promotion Agency. The application period is until June 8.

This project aims to assist startup companies that are not included in either small business or SME categories and thus fall into the blind spot of government support policies. With a budget of 250 million KRW reallocated from existing startup support projects, 250 companies will receive 1 million KRW each in cash support.

The eligible recipients are technology startup companies as defined in Article 2 of the "Busan Metropolitan City Technology Startup Support Ordinance," whose business registration address and the representative's resident registration address are both in Busan from the announcement date until the payment of the support funds.

Target companies are those whose sales from January to April 2020 decreased by 30% or more compared to the same period last year due to the direct impact of COVID-19, and who rent a building to use as an office. Companies that have received small business livelihood support funds and those in entertainment bars, gambling industries, etc., as specified in Article 4 of the Enforcement Decree of the "Small and Medium Enterprise Startup Support Act," are excluded.

Applications can be submitted by downloading the application form from the Busan City or Busan Economic Promotion Agency websites, filling it out, attaching the required documents, and sending it via email by June 8.

If the number of applicants exceeds 250, priority will be given to companies that have maintained the number of employees as of the end of December last year until the announcement date, companies with a larger decrease in sales, and companies not receiving rent support from the government or Busan City.