Nine Startups in Fintech, Big Data, and AI Selected
Triple Support for Rent, Business Development, and Training
Accelerating Growth for Promising Companies
Busan is once again opening its doors to startups in an effort to establish itself as a hub of innovation in the so-called "fintech" sector, which refers to financial technology.
The "Busan Fintech Hub," a cluster for fintech companies, is seeking new resident companies. Busan City plans to conduct its third round of recruitment from September 1 to 17, aiming to select nine promising companies.
The "Busan Fintech Hub" is an incubation platform established by the city to support the diversity and growth of the financial technology industry. It operates in two locations: the "Unicorn Space" on the 11th to 15th floors of the Busan International Finance Center (BIFC) and the "Star Space" on the third floor of the Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Currently, 42 companies are based there.
Beyond simply providing office space, the hub has helped resident companies increase sales and attract investment by offering business development funding, customized programs, and opportunities to expand their networks.
In the previous two rounds of recruitment, the city selected nine companies. With this third round, it plans to expand the fintech ecosystem by adding nine more startups with strong technological capabilities and growth potential. Eligible applicants are IT or data-based startups founded within the last seven years that have business models in fintech, digital transformation, or data-driven services.
The hub's achievements are already evident in the numbers. Since its opening in 2019, a total of 97 companies have been residents, and 31% of them have increased their sales by more than tenfold after moving in. The total cumulative investment and financing attracted by resident companies grew from 4 billion won in 2020 to 71.2 billion won by the end of 2024.
There are also notable individual success stories. Farmcove, which joined in 2022, shifted its business to a tech-fin platform for refurbished goods trading and increased its sales tenfold. In the same year, SBXG achieved profitability last year with its esports-based fintech service. Another resident company, Humans Saving the Earth, launched Korea's first shipping-specialized EU Emissions Trading System platform, expanding into the field of environmental and financial convergence services.
Lee Jinsu, Director of Financial Startup Policy at Busan City, emphasized, "The Busan Fintech Hub is a core platform that drives the sustainable growth of startups. Through this recruitment, we will spare no effort to help promising companies expand their investment and commercialization opportunities and grow together with Busan's financial industry."
He also stated, "We will do our utmost to help Busan emerge as a hub of fintech innovation in Asia."
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