[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development and the Korea Venture Capital Association recently signed a business agreement in the conference room of the Korea Venture Capital Association to support the "Activation of M&A for Startup Companies and Establishment of Exit Strategies."

This agreement was made to establish a collaborative system for creating results in M&A as an exit strategy for startups entering the scale-up stage.

Recently, the exit rate through M&A of startups has been increasing, and cases of mergers and acquisitions among startups are also on the rise. As this phenomenon is linked to serial entrepreneurship, the agreement aims to secure the competitiveness of startups within the M&A ecosystem and continue the entrepreneurial momentum.

Both organizations plan to actively support the creation of M&A outcomes by establishing a cooperative system to ▲discover promising companies and support exits ▲collaborate on operating M&A support programs ▲utilize a pool of M&A advisory institutions.

The collaboration between the two organizations is expected to create a synergy effect by not only discovering excellent exit cases of startups but also enhancing positive perceptions of M&A, thereby revitalizing the M&A ecosystem.

Kim Yong-moon, President of the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development, said, "Recently, startups are playing an increasingly important role in the M&A market, even acquiring business units of large corporations," adding, "We will make further efforts to strengthen exit competitiveness through this business agreement."