[National Policy Committee Report] Easing Regulations and Fostering 50 Unicorns... Ushering in the Era of 40 Trillion Won in Venture Investment

Venture Investment to Triple to 40 Trillion Won by 2030
100 Trillion Won National Fund to Support Advanced Industries
Building an Innovation Ecosystem Through Zero Regulation and Negative Regulatory Shifts

The Lee Jae Myung administration is pursuing a national policy initiative to expand the annual scale of venture investment to 40 trillion won. Regulatory innovation will also be implemented in parallel to create an environment where startups can drive innovation. The government has also set a goal of fostering 50 new global unicorn companies (unlisted companies valued at over 1 trillion won).

On August 13, the National Policy Planning Committee held a Public Report Meeting at the Blue House State Guest House and announced these policy tasks. The committee presented "An Innovation-Driven Economy Leading the World" as one of its five main national goals and declared its ambition to become one of the world’s top four global venture powerhouses.

President Lee Jae Myung is speaking at the National Policy Planning Committee Public Report Meeting held at the Blue House State Guest House on the 13th. Photo by Yonhap News

The government plans to spark a third venture boom and expand the annual venture investment market, currently valued at 12 trillion won, by more than threefold within five years. The "Era of 40 Trillion Won in Venture Investment" is a pledge that President Lee has consistently emphasized since his candidacy. Song Kyunghee, head of the Economic Division 2 at the committee, stated, "We will foster 50 global unicorns by providing support tailored to each growth stage of startups."

To vitalize innovative industries, a 100 trillion won national fund will also be created. This will be achieved by matching private capital with the 50 trillion won Advanced Strategic Industry Fund currently managed by the Korea Development Bank. The fund will be operated under two pillars: the "Advanced Innovation Industry Fund," which will provide low-interest capital to presidentially designated advanced strategic industries such as semiconductors, secondary batteries, biohealth, and artificial intelligence (AI); and the "Future Growth Fund," which includes regional funds.

In addition, the government will actively pursue regulatory innovation, a long-standing demand of the industry. For key national industries such as AI, bio, cultural content, defense, aerospace, and energy, the government will implement "zero regulation" policies and shift to a negative regulatory system to build an innovation ecosystem.

Given that the domestic venture investment market has contracted over the past two years due to the global economic downturn and rising interest rates, expanding investment resources and easing regulations are expected to have a positive impact on market sentiment to some extent. With venture investment reaching 5.7 trillion won in the first half of this year and showing an upward trend, there is also hope that expanding the Korea Fund of Funds will further accelerate this momentum.

The key issue will be how quickly private capital matching and regulatory easing can be implemented. For investment expansion to lead to qualitative growth, the scale-up ecosystem for startups must be meticulously designed during the process of nurturing global unicorns. An industry insider commented, "Expanding the Fund of Funds is positive for restoring investment sentiment," and added, "We hope that the introduction of negative regulations and other measures will proceed swiftly so that innovative companies can seize growth opportunities."