[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Gwangju Center for Creative Economy and Innovation (Center Director Ha Sang-yong) announced on the 5th that it has been finally selected for the ‘Korea Fund of Funds Investment Project’ promoted by Korea Venture Investment Corp.
The fund formed through this investment project will be used to create a startup and investment ecosystem tailored to the regional characteristics with a total scale of 5 billion KRW, including 450 million KRW from Gwangju and the Jeonnam and Jeonbuk Centers for Creative Economy and Innovation and the private sector, 1.5 billion KRW from local governments such as Gwangju, and 3 billion KRW from Korea Venture Investment Corp, enabling excellent startups in the region to easily receive investments.
In particular, it is possible to directly invest more than 200% of the contributed funds in the relevant area, and in the case of Gwangju Metropolitan City, it can invest more than 2.1 billion KRW, which is twice the contributed amount.
The fund must mandatorily invest more than 50% within three years in unlisted startups and venture companies, and the main investment targets are ▲ companies headquartered or planning to relocate in the Honam region (Gwangju, Jeonnam, Jeonbuk, Jeju) ▲ early-stage startups planning to establish branches/factories or startups with annual sales of 2 billion KRW or less ▲ small and medium venture companies with technological innovation and management innovation.
The Gwangju Center for Creative Economy and Innovation, which forms and operates this fund, discovered 297 companies from 2015 to 2020 and attracted 91.8 billion KRW in private investment.
In addition, to increase the business success rate of excellent startups, it has been forming and operating the first private investment association since last year, and is preparing the second private investment association in the second half of this year.
It also supports successful startups by discovering items and concretizing business models for the general public, including local youth, and is conducting various programs such as IR demo days and one-on-one investment consultations by inviting VCs (venture capitals) to help startups with high growth potential attract private investment and interact with professional investors.
Center Director Ha Sang-yong said, “With the selection for this Korea Fund of Funds Investment Project, we will further solidify our role as a regional hub contributing to the revitalization of startup and investment in Gwangju, and we will strive even more for Gwangju, which has a high startup success rate connecting to private investment through discovering sound startups.”
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