More Than Half of Self-Employed Close Within 3 Years, but 80% Intend to Restart... Finda's 'OpenUp' Offers Support

Survey by AI Commercial District Analysis Platform 'OpenUp'
Top Reason for Business Closure: "Failure to Select the Right Location"

A recent survey found that more than half of self-employed business owners close their businesses within three years. Despite the high closure rate, 8 out of 10 self-employed individuals expressed a willingness to start a new business.

As the prolonged conflict between the government and the medical community causes many hospitals to face financial difficulties, pharmacies and small business owners in the surrounding commercial areas are also struggling. A closure notice is posted in front of a restaurant on a street near Seoul National University Hospital in Jongno-gu, Seoul, where pharmacies and restaurants are located. The owner said the restaurant, which had been in business for 41 years, is closing due to the inability to withstand the economic downturn. Photo by Heo Younghan younghan@

On May 12, fintech company Finda released the results of its "OpenUp User Business Operation Experience Survey." OpenUp is Finda's artificial intelligence (AI)-powered commercial district analysis platform, which contains more than 1.5 billion big data entries.

Finda surveyed 1,840 OpenUp users over a month starting at the end of March. According to the results, half of the respondents (49.3%) had started a business more than once, making them so-called "serial entrepreneurs." The breakdown showed that 12% had started a business three times, 9% five times or more, and 4% four times. Respondents who were starting a business for the first time accounted for 36.5%, while 14.2% had no startup experience.

The most common reason for business closure was "failure to select the right location or industry" (25.0%). This was followed by marketing failure (22.3%), burden of rent (16.3%), lack of resources (14.7%), insufficient management capability (13.2%), labor cost burden (12.4%), changes in market trends (9.5%), issues with cost of goods sold (7.6%), and personal circumstances (6.2%).

Regarding the duration of operation before closure, more than half of respondents said their businesses did not last more than three years. Specifically, 42.1% operated for more than one year but less than three years, 9.9% for less than one year, 21.0% for more than three years but less than five years, 16.9% for more than five years but less than ten years, and 9.3% for more than ten years.

The majority of self-employed individuals who had experienced business closure showed a strong willingness to start again. When asked if they were considering starting a new business, 80.8%?or 4 out of 5?answered "yes."

However, most self-employed individuals preparing to restart their businesses had not yet completed their analysis of commercial districts and site selection.

The largest proportion, 44.1%, responded that they "have not made a final decision." Additionally, 29.3% said they "have just started to analyze commercial districts and sites," and 11.5% said they "have not prepared at all." Only 15.1% said they had "completed the selection of the optimal commercial district and site."

Most self-employed individuals planned to secure funds through loans. When asked about their experience with or plans for loans to finance a new business, 78.4% said they "have experience or are planning to take out a loan." The most common planned loan amount was "between 50 million and 100 million won," with 31.4% of respondents selecting this range.

Hwang Changhee, Head of OpenUp Business Development, said, "Selecting the right location is a decisive factor in the success or failure of a business, but many still start or restart businesses without accurate prior information about location and commercial districts. We aim to develop more services to help small business owners and the self-employed make a comeback."

Meanwhile, since February, Finda has been participating in the "2025 Hope Return Package Business Restart (Re-entrepreneurship)" national project, organized by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Small Enterprise and Market Service, to support the recovery of small business owners.