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A 5 billion KRW fund investing in so-called ‘Raikon,’ entrepreneur-type small business owners, will be established for the first time in Busan.
The Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Hyung-jun) announced on the 6th that the ‘Busan Raikon Fund’ will be formed as a sub-fund of the Busan Innovation Scale-up Mother Fund, which was selected in 2025 by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ Local Era Venture Fund competition.
Raikon (Lifestyle & Local Innovation Unicorn) refers to entrepreneur-type small business owners who create new content in lifestyle and local sectors.
Busan designated Raikon as the primary investment target of the Busan Innovation Scale-up Mother Fund and applied for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ ‘Local Era Venture Fund’ competition, ultimately being selected on February 27. Accordingly, the fund formation is planned to be completed in the second half of this year in line with the mother fund’s schedule.
This fund will integrate investments into growth and nurturing policies for innovative small business owners, enabling promising local small business owners to attract investments, secure funding, and build an ecosystem for growth.
Raikon are small business owners who, based on entrepreneurial spirit in their local areas, create new value and innovative business models and aim for growth.
Busan has many local value creators with promising technologies and potential value, based on its abundant small business infrastructure. Among them, small business owners who have not been able to scale up due to financial limitations will be recognized for their value, receive investments, secure stable funding, foster a startup ecosystem, and be nurtured as Busan’s representative ‘entrepreneur-type small business owners.’
Raikon that grow in this way are expected to create synergy with surrounding commercial districts, contributing to the co-growth of local small business owners and revitalizing neighborhood commercial areas.
Busan plans to support promising small business owners to grow beyond the local area into glocal brands by promoting various Raikon policies in addition to the fund.
Since 2017, Busan has been promoting the ‘Industry-Specialized and Innovative Small Business Nurturing Project’ to discover and support promising industries with growth potential. It nurtures promising small business owners as Busan’s representative brands by designating star small business owners and providing growth support funds. The ‘Busan Craft Beer Masters Challenge’ has also established itself as a tourism content showcasing the excellence of Busan craft beer.
This year, Raikon will be integrated with local commercial districts. Entrepreneur-type small business owners will take the lead in discovering and combining various contents of local commercial districts to revitalize depressed commercial areas and build glocal commercial districts that attract domestic and international related populations.
To this end, stores with killer content utilizing local heritage will be selected and supported as signature stores, and projects to create local brands reflecting regional characteristics centered on local creators will be supported.
Mayor Park Hyung-jun of Busan said, “In the difficult domestic and international economic situation, this fund will serve as the seed money necessary for supplying funds to promising local small business owners who cannot grow due to financial limitations and act as a primer to attract follow-up investments.”
He added, “We will make Busan a city where entrepreneur-type small business owners, based on Busan’s unique characteristics and foundation and incorporating innovative ideas, can grow into glocal brands.”
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