Ministry of SMEs and Startups Launches Full-Scale Support for Foreign Entrepreneurs... Evaluating Potential for Domestic Settlement

Selected 10 Companies Including the US, UK, Sweden, and Taiwan
All Procedures Including Application and Selection Conducted in English

The government has begun full-scale support for foreign entrepreneurs.

On July 31, participants including Oh Young-joo, Minister of SMEs and Startups, are taking a commemorative photo at the opening ceremony of the Global Startup Center held at Tipstown in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul.
[Photo by Ministry of SMEs and Startups]

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 7th that it has selected a total of 10 companies through the evaluation of the ‘2024 Foreign Entrepreneur Commercialization Support Project (Pilot).’

The selected companies include 6 in the IT sector, 1 in bio, 1 in greentech, 1 in manufacturing, and 1 in commerce. Their nationalities are also diverse, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Taiwan.

This project is being piloted this year to promote domestic startups by foreign entrepreneurs with technological capabilities. All procedures, from the recruitment announcement to application and selection evaluation, were conducted in English. The business plan submission format was also significantly reduced from 15 pages to 6 pages to accommodate the convenience of foreign entrepreneurs.

From August 12 to the 6th of last month, 102 foreign entrepreneurs applied, resulting in a competition rate of 10.2 to 1. The applicants’ nationalities were also diverse, with 50% from Asia, 24.5% from North America, 23.5% from Europe, and 2% from Africa.

The selection process was conducted through document and presentation evaluations. The startups were comprehensively assessed not only on business feasibility and innovation but also on the possibility of settling in Korea and their contribution to the domestic economy.

Selected companies will receive up to 60 million KRW in commercialization funds to support product/service localization and advancement, as well as business model (BM) innovation. Additionally, various nurturing programs will be provided in connection with the Global Startup Center.

Since this year, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has been actively promoting inbound startup activation policies to globalize the domestic startup ecosystem, which has been centered on Koreans. At the end of July, the Global Startup Center (GSC) was opened to comprehensively support foreign startups by providing office space and meeting rooms, visa acquisition and corporate establishment support, translation and interpretation services, networking, and nurturing programs. In cooperation with the Ministry of Justice, the ‘Startup Korea Special Visa’ will be introduced within the year, issuing startup visas based on business feasibility and innovation evaluations by a private evaluation committee, aiming to actively attract promising overseas startups.

Jo Kyung-won, Director of Startup Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, “We hope that the innovative foreign entrepreneurs selected in this support project will complement our startup ecosystem and create synergy to become a new growth engine,” adding, “We will continue to expand openness so that Korea can rise as a global startup hub.”