Expansion to 8 Centers This Year
Pilot Operation of Specialized Startup Package Project
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will officially operate the 'Startup-BuS' program to discover promising local startups. This year, the program will expand from the existing 5 centers to 8 centers to quickly support startups from seed investment to follow-up investment.
On the 18th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that it will officially operate the Startup-BuS (Build up Strategy for Startups) program this year. Startup-BuS is a program first launched in May last year by the Creative Economy Innovation Centers (CEICs) to rapidly support promising local deep-tech startups from initial investment to follow-up investment linkage.
Last year, Startup-BuS was piloted at 5 CEICs (Gyeonggi, Incheon, Chungbuk, Ulsan, Gwangju), and this year it plans to expand to a total of 8 centers by adding 3 new centers (Gangwon, Gyeongnam, Jeju). To receive support from Startup-BuS, local startups can participate in mini pitching days held weekly at each CEIC, as was the case last year.
Startup-BuS aims to discover promising local startups and provide seed investment within 3 months, support for private investment-led technology startups (TIPS) within 6 months, and rapid linkage to follow-up investment within 12 months. Last year, the 5 centers discovered a total of 406 companies, among which 110 companies succeeded in attracting direct and indirect investments amounting to approximately 29.6 billion KRW.
In particular, in April, July, and September this year, the 8 CEICs will hold joint investment briefing sessions to showcase startups selected and nurtured through Startup-BuS to domestic and international investors. It is expected that the opportunities for promising local startups to receive follow-up investment through a shared platform with investment stakeholders will be expanded.
Additionally, the Ministry plans to pilot the '2025 Specialized Startup Package Project' this year to support the growth of startups outside the metropolitan area that possess promising startup items. The support targets are pre-startups or startups in new industry fields with less than 10 years of business experience located outside the metropolitan area, providing tailored commercialization funds and startup programs according to the company's investment stage.
About 70 companies will be selected through two tracks: 'general recruitment' and 'regional CEIC recommendation.' General recruitment applications will be accepted from the 19th of this month until the 7th of next month on the official K-Startup website. Notably, this project differentiates itself from existing startup package projects by classifying recruitment targets based on investment stages rather than business experience and providing customized programs accordingly.
The specialized startup package will be led by the Chungnam and Jeonnam CEICs as the main institutions, supporting in connection with large and medium-sized enterprises related to regional specialized industries. In the case of the Chungnam center, it plans to focus on nurturing startups in the climate tech field in collaboration with SK Ecoplant and others, while the Jeonnam center plans to focus on nurturing startups in the energy field in collaboration with GS and Korea Electric Power Corporation.
Jo Kyung-won, Director of Startup Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "The Startup-BuS program, which continuously discovers and rapidly nurtures startups centered on regional CEICs, was well established last year, and we plan to expand its operation this year. We will actively support local startups to continuously grow by making Startup-BuS and the specialized startup package two major pillars."
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