[Exclusive] Government Considering 'K-STAR' Overseas Expansion Support Program Exclusively for Platforms

Planning and Review of the 'K-STAR Platform Development Project'
Targeting Service Platforms in Fields such as Beauty, Healthcare, and Education
Three-Year Step-by-Step Support Including Policy Funds and Global Marketing

The government has confirmed that it is considering a dedicated support program for domestic service platform SMEs wishing to enter overseas markets.

According to the government on July 30, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is planning the "K-STAR Platform Development Project" (tentative name) through the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency and is conducting internal reviews on related details. The purpose of this project is to systematically support the overseas expansion of various service platform companies in fields such as beauty, healthcare, fashion, education, and travel. For example, the project aims to support the expansion of beauty and healthcare platforms like "Gangnam Unni" or online education platforms like "Class101" into Southeast Asia.

The draft of this project consists of a step-by-step program over three years. For service platform companies selected through an open call, the first year, which is the preparation stage, will provide up to 500 million won in policy funds (loans) and overseas expansion consulting for establishing overseas subsidiaries. In the second year, global marketing for entry into a single country and consulting for further overseas market expansion will be provided. In the third year, global marketing for entry into multiple countries and support for post-entry management and venture capital (VC) investment attraction will be offered. It has also been reported that subsidies for global marketing and consulting in the second and third years are under discussion.

This project originated from the recognition of the need for a separate export support system as the domestic platform industry, which had been centered on e-commerce platforms such as Coupang and Gmarket, has recently diversified and expanded into various types of service platforms. The Korea SMEs and Startups Agency reflected this demand and began planning the project in March, based on the results of the Ministry of Science and ICT's "2023 Value-Added Telecommunications Business Survey."

According to the survey, among value-added telecommunications operators, "digital platform operators" accounted for the highest proportion by business type in services (35.8%), followed by content (24.2%) and goods (18.7%). In addition, 38.9% of digital platform operators responded that they had experience in overseas expansion and exports, while 21.8% said they had plans for overseas expansion and exports, confirming a strong export intention.

The Korea SMEs and Startups Agency noted that the main difficulties in overseas expansion and exports were overseas marketing and distribution/sales, obtaining information for localizing products and services, and securing personnel to support overseas expansion. The agency explained that the K-STAR Platform Development Project was devised as a customized support measure to address these issues.

The K-STAR Platform Development Project is described as an "exclusive" support program only for service platform companies, which differs in the scope of eligible recipients from existing export support programs such as the Export Voucher, Online Export Platform, and E-commerce Export Market Entry Project. An official from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups said, "It is currently under consideration as an idea for fostering platform SMEs."