2,626 Companies Apply for This Year's "K-Startup Grand Challenge"

1.5 Times Increase from Last Year
Many Outstanding Overseas Companies with Sales, Employment, and Investment Achievements Participate

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on June 29 that a total of 2,626 teams from around the world have applied to participate in this year's "K-Startup Grand Challenge."

The K-Startup Grand Challenge is the largest global startup competition in Korea, launched in 2016. Companies selected for this program are provided with support for exploring the Korean market and settling locally. In addition, companies recognized as outstanding at the COMEUP Demo Day, held in December, can receive a prize of up to 100 million won.

This year, the number of applications is more than 1.5 times higher than last year, and the competition rate is 32.8 to 1 based on the selection of 80 teams. By region, the applicants are from Asia (42.7%), Africa (31.1%), the Americas (10.7%), and Europe (8.2%). By sector, IT·software accounts for the largest share at 29.6%, followed by food·agriculture at 12.5%, and healthcare·bio at 11.4%.

Additionally, it is analyzed that a large number of high-quality companies have participated: 61.5% of the applicants have secured investment, 70.6% have recorded sales, and 45.3% have organizations with more than six members.

Photo by Getty Images Bank

For example, Company A from France, which provides artificial intelligence (AI)-based cybersecurity solutions, is currently collaborating with a major French energy company. Company B from Taiwan, which offers a precision diagnostic platform based on food allergy test kits, currently has more than 600 consumers using its service.

After going through the selection and evaluation process, the applicant companies will participate in domestic settlement support programs starting at the end of July. These programs include market exploration and localization strategy consulting, visa acquisition and corporate establishment support, and business meetings with domestic companies and investors.

In addition to the K-Startup Grand Challenge, the Ministry has been actively promoting inbound policies since last year to promote Korea's startup ecosystem and discover and attract foreign startups through various support programs. So far, 88 overseas startups have been discovered and selected through inbound programs such as K-Scouter, Foreign Startup Commercialization Support, and the Startup Korea Special Visa. These companies have achieved a total of 40.4 billion won in investment attraction, created 59 jobs, and generated 10.6 billion won in sales.

Cho Kyungwon, Director of Startup Policy, stated, "Actively attracting outstanding overseas startups injects new growth momentum into Korea's startup ecosystem," and added, "We hope that many excellent overseas startups will enter Korea through this year's K-Startup Grand Challenge."