527 Venture Companies in Goyang Six Months After Venture Promotion District Designation, Up 8%
Business Environment Improvements in Five Areas and SME Co-Support Agreement Loan... Easing Management Burden
Goyang IR Day on June 26: Tailored Investment Connections for Prospective Entrepreneurs and Promising Ventures
Goyang Special City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Lee Donghwan) is accelerating its efforts to become a "venture-friendly city" by actively implementing a wide range of support policies for the establishment and growth of small and venture businesses.
Lee Donghwan, mayor of Goyang Special City, is delivering a greeting at the 'Goyang IR Day Startup Audition' held last year. Provided by Goyang Special City
According to Goyang Special City on June 1, the city is expanding its business ecosystem by providing tailored support such as financial assistance and improvements to working conditions, and is also pursuing the designation of additional Venture Business Promotion Districts. In addition, the city plans to hold IR Days in both the first and second halves of the year, tailored to different stages of business growth, to discover promising startups and strengthen investment connections.
From financial support to workplace improvements... Easing the management burden for small businesses
To ease the financial burden on small businesses this year, Goyang Special City signed agreements with six first-tier banks in February and launched the "Small Business Working Capital Interest Subsidy Support Project." Through this project, the city provides interest subsidies of up to 2.5% per company for loans of up to 300 million KRW, with a total annual loan fund of 50 billion KRW. As of May, a total of 3.29 billion KRW has been provided to 14 companies.
Starting last month, the city also signed an agreement with IBK Industrial Bank of Korea to launch the new "Small Business Co-Support Agreement Loan." This program, with a total scale of 200 billion KRW over three years, shares both guarantee fees and interest costs, significantly improving financial accessibility for businesses.
The city is also working to improve the working environment for small businesses. This year, Goyang selected 29 companies and is investing a total of 560 million KRW to comprehensively improve working conditions, from upgrading basic infrastructure to strengthening fire safety facilities. The newly established fire safety category, introduced last year, focuses on supporting safety enhancements such as installing fire detectors and partitioning hazardous material storage areas.
Pursuing additional Venture Promotion District designations... Continuously expanding the venture ecosystem
The city is also working to expand Venture Promotion Districts to facilitate the concentration and growth of venture businesses. In October last year, Goyang became the first city in northern Gyeonggi Province to be designated as a Venture Promotion District by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, designating a total of 1.25 million square meters in areas including Kintex, Baekseok-dong, and Wonheung-dong.
Companies located in Venture Promotion Districts receive a 50% reduction in both acquisition and property taxes, as well as exemptions from five types of fees, including traffic impact charges. In just six months since the designation, the number of venture companies increased by 8% to 527, and about 1,000 jobs were created.
Additionally, in May last year, the city expanded the number of eligible industries for knowledge industry centers from 97 to 114, and further increased it to 126 in February this year, resulting in a rising occupancy rate. The occupancy rate at the Hyangdong District knowledge industry center rose from 18% in May last year to 64% this month, an increase of approximately 46 percentage points. The Deogeun District occupancy rate also increased by about 20 percentage points to 68% compared to the beginning of the year, and the number of jobs in the Deogeun and Hyangdong Districts increased by more than 7,000 year-on-year.
Goyang Special City is currently surveying the concentration of venture businesses in areas with a high density of knowledge industry centers, such as Hyangdong and Deogeun, and in station-area innovation districts like Seongsa Innovation District. If the conditions are met, the city plans to pursue additional Venture Promotion District designations, aiming to develop into the largest venture hub in the northwestern Seoul metropolitan area.
Connecting investments through IR Day... Accelerating the discovery of potential unicorn companies
The "Goyang IR Day," which plays a key role in activating the venture ecosystem, is also attracting attention. This year, Goyang will hold two IR events, in the first and second halves of the year, to discover promising startups and strengthen investment connections. A total of 78 companies applied for the first-half "Beginning Challenge," resulting in a competition rate of 7.8 to 1.
The 10 companies selected through the first round of document screening and the second round of presentation evaluations will participate in the IR Day on June 26, where they will have direct investment consultations with accelerators (AC) and venture capital (VC) representatives. These companies will also have the opportunity to connect with the Goyang Venture Fund (80 billion KRW) and the Goyang Youth Startup Fund (10 billion KRW) for potential investments.
Meanwhile, ControlM, a food tech startup that participated in the second half IR event last year, attracted 200 million KRW in investment from the Goyang Youth Startup Fund and has since been selected for the Goyang-type TIPS program, where it is actively pursuing research and development and commercialization.
Lee Donghwan, mayor of Goyang Special City, stated, "We will provide full support for the establishment, investment, management, and advanced technology R&D of small and venture businesses, which are the future growth engines, to create a regional innovation ecosystem where the growth of local companies leads to the creation of quality jobs and revitalization of the local economy."
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