Daejeon City Supports Promising Small and Venture Companies for KOSDAQ Listing

Provided by Daejeon City

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Daejeon City is supporting the KOSDAQ listing of promising small and venture companies. This is the first time a local government has supported company listings in Korea.

On the 6th, Daejeon City announced that it will collaborate with KAIST and Daejeon Technopark to discover promising small and venture companies and support investment attraction and corporate listing (IPO).

This support by the city is the first case among local governments nationwide, focusing on establishing a mid- to long-term growth foundation for medium-sized enterprises by providing investment and IPO-related specialized education programs and networking consulting opportunities to regional strong small and medium enterprises.

The IPO support is promoted to help companies that have excellent technology and high growth potential but face difficulties in attracting investment and going public.

To strategically implement this, the city has operated a pilot IPO support program over the past two years with the Department of Technology Management at KAIST and Daejeon Technopark, establishing a system that can reflect corporate demands on-site.

Based on this, the city plans to select companies that can be included in the IPO target within three years in the short term, shorten the IPO preparation period to 1.5 years, and reduce the financial burden on companies during the IPO preparation process.

In the long term, it aims to enable early-stage startups based on excellent technology to prepare corporate growth strategies with IPO in mind.

Companies wishing to participate in the city’s IPO program must complete their application through Daejeon Technopark by the 13th of this month.

After the application deadline, the city will conduct eligibility reviews for the applicant companies by the end of this month and select 20 companies. From next month until November, these companies will be able to participate in the IPO program (13 sessions).

In particular, the city explained that it will select five excellent companies with imminent IPOs and provide full-scale scale-up specialized consulting.

Myeong No-chung, Director of the Science and Industry Bureau of the city, said, “We will complete a platform that systematically supports the KOSDAQ listing and enhances the value of local companies through collaboration between innovative local corporate support institutions and listing experts in the metropolitan area.” He added, “Through this, the city will establish a foundation for unicorn companies to emerge in the region in the future.”