YeoBenHyup, Final Selection of Women Venture Nurturing AC... "Discovering Innovative Technology Companies"

Women Venture and Startup Support Project
Expanding Scale with 700 Million Won Budget This Year
"Leading Change in the Women Entrepreneurship Ecosystem"

The Korea Women Venture Association finalized the selection of women-specialized startup planners (accelerators) to participate in the '2023 Private Cooperation Women Venture & Startup Development' on the 4th.

This project aims to increase growth support opportunities for early-stage women startups and provide commercialization success potential through startup planners who focus on discovering and nurturing women startups.

The selected organizations include The Invention Lab, which proposed support for overseas expansion of women-founded startups in the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' top 10 breakthrough technologies, food, and retail sectors, as well as B Square, Genaxis, and Hanyang University Technology Holdings.

From 2017 to 2021, the average annual growth rate of women-founded startups in technology-based industries was 7.6%, more than twice that of men (3.0%). Due to the decline in the economically active population caused by low birth rates and aging, the utilization of high-quality female talent as human resources has been consistently emphasized as a policy necessity to secure national competitiveness.

Last year, the association selected two women-specialized startup planners for the first time and supported 11 companies, successfully attracting 1.7 billion KRW in private investment to five women venture companies. These achievements significantly contributed to the increase in the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' budget (from 320 million KRW to 700 million KRW) and the expansion of the number of selected startup planners (from two to four) this year.

The operating organizations selected this year will discover promising women startups based on innovative technologies that reflect the unique sensibilities and characteristics of women, such as women-friendly products.

They will provide specialized programs considering the growth stages of startups, including customized support design, education and mentoring, commercialization funds (average 10 million KRW), and cooperative networks, supporting the entire process for startup success from direct investment to follow-up investment.

Yoon Mi-ok, president of the Korea Women Venture Association, stated, "The association will continue to discover and nurture technology-based future women enterprises to lead changes in the women startup ecosystem," and urged the government and investment sectors for ongoing interest and cooperation.