SMBA and KISED have launched an acceleration program to incubate and accelerate foreign entrepreneurs to start a startup in Korea
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Ever since South Korean President Moon Jae-In has been elected, he has pledged to continue supporting small and medium enterprises setting up $2.1 billion, which is 7% of the annual budget of the country. In addition, the government sets up an agenda to have annually 2,000 startups established by 2018.
Within his period, he continues to support startup industry in order to reduce the employment rate and increase the GDP growth rate, which is a key of Moon Jae-In’s agenda.
In that direction, SMBA (Small and Medium Business Administration) and KISED (Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development) have launched an acceleration program to incubate and accelerate foreign entrepreneurs to start a startup in Korea, and have chosen two host institutions to operate the program.
“We would like to see a (prospective) startup founder to bring diversity to startup scene in Korea. We have seen enough from K-startups, but to build up a rich startup ecosystem, there should be various resources outside Korea. Hopefully, the founder would be able to penetrate the domestic market and go global.” says Daejin Kim, the head of Global Entrepreneurs Foundation.
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South Korean government has invested the world largest amount of the startup support funds, more than $4 billion. However, the advantages have not reached to foreigners yet. People from outside country see that K-startup scene has a lack of diversity compared to Israel and Silicon Valley’s startup scene.
SMBA and KISED emphasize that job creation and diversity brought by foreign entrepreneurs enrich the ecosystem in Korea.
Approximately $26,000 would be granted to promising startups when selected, and the startup would be in an acceleration program for the next ten months. Office space, mentoring, networking, and other supports related to running a business in Korea would be provided during the program.
The program runs from September to June, and its applications are open to any foreigners who are into starting up in Korea and teams with a foreign (co)founder. Applicants would be assessed by the team’s makeup, their business model and its marketability and scalability through an application screening that consists of an application laying out their business proposal ideas and a presentation and an interview.
Application for GAPS 2017 for Foreign Tech Startup can be submitted by July 31st 2017 through http://www.k-startup.go.kr/
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