Gangnam-gu and Korea Venture Business Association
Join Forces to Boost Global Startup Investment
and Expansion
Gangnam-gu, Seoul (Mayor Jo Seong-myeong) is launching the '2025 Gangnam-gu Global Startup IR Activation Project' in full swing, in collaboration with the Korea Venture Business Association (Chairman Song Byeong-jun), to support domestic and international investment attraction and global expansion of outstanding startups in the district.
Since starting this project in 2017 to systematically support startups in the district for overseas expansion and investment attraction, over 120 companies have participated in the past three years, achieving a cumulative investment attraction of 148.1 billion KRW. This year, a total of 30 companies will be selected for intensive nurturing in cooperation with global specialized accelerators such as SparkLabs and PenVentures.
The domestic program with SparkLabs will recruit 20 participating companies. Selected companies will receive customized investment attraction briefing consulting and Korean-English material production necessary for domestic and international investment activities, and two IR sessions targeting domestic and international VCs (Venture Capital) and angel investors will be held. Additionally, benefits include direct investment by SparkLabs (over 50 million KRW) for one outstanding company, priority participation in the Korea Venture Business Association global program, one-on-one investment consultation roundtables, and distribution of investment reports to VCs.
The overseas program with PenVentures will recruit 10 participating companies and conduct local IR events and VC meetups in Singapore and New York, USA. In particular, through an open innovation program with local large and medium-sized enterprises in Singapore, one-on-one matching with local companies, participation in global conferences, and market expansion will be supported. Other opportunities include priority participation in the Korea Venture Business Association global program, airfare and accommodation support (up to 3 million KRW per person), IR mentoring and local meetups, and global investment linkage programs.
Applications for the domestic program can be submitted through the Korea Venture Business Association website by the 16th of this month, and for the overseas program from the 15th to the 30th of this month. For more details, contact the Korea Venture Business Association at 02-6331-7083 or 7081.
A representative from Impact AI, a company that participated last year, said, "Through the Gangnam-gu Global Startup IR project, we enhanced our IR pitch deck (presentation materials for investment attraction) and incorporated feedback from local experts to establish a foundation for global expansion. As a result, in the fourth quarter of last year, we achieved our first U.S. sales through a testbed with a global VR content company."
Mayor Jo Seong-myeong stated, "Gangnam-gu is the center of the startup ecosystem in South Korea, and through this project, we will continue to provide professional support so that promising domestic companies can grow on the global stage."
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