15 Companies to Be Selected...
Priority Given to Deep Tech Firms
Additional Support Provided for Achieving Results Such as Follow-up Investments
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on May 6 that it will begin accepting applications for the 2025 Preliminary Unicorn Special Guarantee program from May 7.
The Preliminary Unicorn Special Guarantee is open to companies that have accumulated investment of at least 5 billion KRW (or 3 billion KRW for regional star companies) and meet requirements for growth and innovation, or companies with a corporate value of at least 100 billion KRW. Approximately 15 companies will be selected through a process that includes document screening, technology evaluation and guarantee review, and presentation evaluation.
Starting this year, the ministry plans to introduce additional points for deep tech companies and expand the weighting of technology evaluation indicators in order to enhance support for deep tech companies. In addition, for the top 30% of companies in the final evaluation, a performance-linked guarantee support system will be introduced to accelerate their global expansion. The performance-linked guarantee system provides additional guarantee support without a separate review if a company achieves certain results after selection, such as increased sales or successful follow-up investment.
The Preliminary Unicorn Special Guarantee is the second phase of a structured global unicorn project aimed at nurturing potential unicorn companies with a corporate value of at least 1 trillion KRW. From 2019 to last year, the ministry selected and supported 126 preliminary unicorn companies. These selected companies attracted more than 5 trillion KRW in follow-up investments and achieved notable results, including eight companies growing into unicorns, 13 companies going public (IPO), and four companies completing mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
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