Naver Fountain Fund for Small and Medium Businesses Surpasses 300 Billion KRW

4 Years Since Established in 2017
This Year's Scale Expected to Exceed 90 Billion Won

Naver announced on the 15th that its ‘Bunsu Fund,’ established for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and creators, has surpassed 300 billion KRW in four years. In the early 2010s, when Naver was in a situation similar to today’s Kakao, it has since adopted ‘co-prosperity’ as a key business direction and has been steadily continuing related activities.

The Bunsu Fund is an internal budget separately established by Naver since 2017 to support the continuous growth of SMEs and creators and to create a multiplier effect on the economy through this. As of the end of August this year, about 50 billion KRW has been spent from the Naver Bunsu Fund, achieving a cumulative amount of 320 billion KRW in four years. Naver expects the Bunsu Fund to exceed 90 billion KRW in scale this year. A Naver official explained, "We have taken a step forward in fulfilling our promise to invest 180 billion KRW over the past two years to create added value."

The company stated that the Bunsu Fund has served as a solid foundation for ‘Project Kkot,’ which leads the digital transformation of SMEs and creators. Based on the Bunsu Fund, Naver has established and operates Partners Square, an educational space for partners, in six regions nationwide. Expansion into Naver Business School is also planned. The Bunsu Fund is expanding its scope to include Start Zero Commission supporting fees, Growth Support Points, and Naver Order commission support for offline SMEs. Naver also supports monetization by operating advertising reward programs for creators active in the Naver ecosystem, such as blogs, Band, influencers, and KnowledgeiN.

Additionally, the Bunsu Fund has contributed to establishing a sustainable growth foundation for creators by supporting social ventures through the public interest foundation Happybean, as well as software education and musician support. Han Seong-sook, CEO of Naver, said, "All of Naver’s business models and advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and big data have been integrated, achieving results with 460,000 online entrepreneurs, 2 million offline SMEs, and creators in various fields working together with Naver." She added, "Going forward, we will further expand the scope of Project Kkot based on the nation’s top-level Bunsu Fund."