Gibo, Jeju Innovation Companies Collaborate to Attract Investment

Activation of the Venture Ecosystem in Jeju Region
Leading Regional Balanced Development

On the 30th, the Korea Technology Finance Corporation (Kibo) announced that it held the "Jeju Innovative Companies IPO and Scale-up Strategy Seminar" at the Ramada Plaza Jeju to revitalize the investment environment in the Jeju region and foster a venture investment ecosystem.

Co-hosted with the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Government and Jeju Technopark, the seminar was attended by over 100 participants including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) based in Jeju and related organizations. The program proceeded in the following order: ▲ Sharing success stories of Kibo-invested companies ▲ Exploring successful strategies for attracting investment ▲ Introducing domestic IPO systems ▲ Introducing corporate support systems by Kibo and Jeju Special Self-Governing Province.

Kibo is a policy financial institution that started direct investment in SMEs in 2005, and by last year, it had invested approximately 520 billion KRW in a total of 547 SMEs. Among them, 37 companies have been listed on KOSPI and KOSDAQ. In particular, Kibo has focused more than 60% of its investments on companies located in provincial areas, striving to expand investment opportunities for SMEs in provincial regions that have been relatively neglected by private investment.

The Jeju region is gaining attention for its potential to develop core technology industries responsible for Korea’s future growth sectors, such as drones, autonomous driving, aerospace, and clean energy, based on its geographical characteristics. The Jeju Special Self-Governing Province is also showing strong commitment to fostering related industries.

Kim Jong-ho, Chairman of Kibo, said, “I hope this seminar will serve as a small starting point for the scale-up and IPO promotion of innovative SMEs based in Jeju.” He added, “Going forward, Kibo will continue to expand venture investment support so that promising local SMEs can reach the listing stage and create good examples of regional win-win cooperation.”