12 Selected... Support for Commercialization Funds and Local Market Research
Incheon City is focusing on helping young entrepreneurs enter international markets.
The city announced that it will recruit 12 young (prospective) entrepreneurs from the 20th of this month to the 10th of next month to fully launch the 'Youth Overseas Expansion Base Support Project.' Eligible applicants are those aged 39 or younger, residing or having a business location in Incheon, and who are technology sector entrepreneurs within seven years of establishment.
Especially this year, the target countries for expansion will be extended from Asia to the North American region. Considering the demand for expansion from various startup companies and the domestic and international startup ecosystems, the plan is to expand to the United States as well as Vietnam and Singapore. To this end, the city has signed agreements with two accelerators that have abundant experience and networks in supporting overseas expansion, and plans to provide professional and systematic support through one-on-one matching with the target countries.
Last year, the city selected 10 young entrepreneurs and provided customized consulting and global accelerating centered on Mongolia and Vietnam, along with administrative and financial support such as up to 100 million KRW in commercialization funds per company, local market research, and matching with overseas local partners.
Despite being the first year of the project, it achieved results including the establishment of three overseas corporations in Vietnam and Saudi Arabia, 29 agreements such as memorandums of understanding (MOUs), attracting investments worth 27.7 billion KRW including pre-IPO (investment conditional on going public within 1-2 years), exports totaling 97,113 USD, 46 patent applications and registrations, and 89 cases of market development through franchise agreements.
Among them, 'Cheongchun F&B,' a vision artificial intelligence (AI)-based chicken skewer food tech company, established a Vietnamese corporation and is seeking to expand throughout Asia, while 'Able Labs,' which produces bio-experiment automation robots, has completed the establishment of a local corporation in the United States. Additionally, 'Pablo Aviation,' aiming to build a drone delivery system, received the Innovation Award in the Smart City category at CES 2024.
The city plans to discover and support a total of 100 young entrepreneurs to expand overseas by 2026, gradually increasing the number of supported individuals and target regions each year, with a total project budget of 11.7 billion KRW over four years.
An official from Incheon City stated, "Actively supporting young entrepreneurs so they can challenge themselves without fear of failure is an important investment for the future of Incheon and South Korea," adding, "We will further expand the discovery and support of young entrepreneurs so that they can grow into global top executives."
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