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The Ministry of SMEs and Startups has allocated 441.1 billion won for next year's "Everyone's Startup " project. This is an increase of 68.9% (181 billion won) from this year's 263.1 billion won. The ministry will also invest 1.3 trillion won in the Fund of Funds (Korea Venture Fund), a 420 billion won increase from this year's budget (including supplementary budget) of 880 billion won, to revitalize the venture investment market.
Noh Yong-seok, Acting Minister and First Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, announced the '2027 Budget Proposal' containing these details at the Yeouido SME Central Hall on the previous day (31st). The total budget for next year prepared by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is 18.724 trillion won, a 9.4% (1.5491 trillion won) increase from this year. The budget proposal will be submitted to the National Assembly on the 3rd for deliberation and revision before being finalized within the year.
In the startup sector, the government decided to continue and expand the national startup boom centered on "Everyone's Startup" The selection scale will increase from 15,000 people this year to 20,000 next year, and the amount of business development support funds per round will also be increased. For example, the support fund upon passing Round 1 will rise from 20 thousand won to 5 million won, expanding the maximum stage-by-stage support from 20 million won to 30 million won. The total budget scale is 441.1 billion won, a 68.9% increase from this year.
However, with the expansion of "Startup for All," the Startup Preparation Package support project will be completely eliminated starting next year. The Initial Startup Package (46.9 billion won) and Startup Growth Package (58.5 billion won) will also see a 16% to 19% reduction in support scale compared to this year's figures (55.9 billion won, 72.8 billion won). Cho Kyung-won, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' Startup Policy Officer, explained, "Since initial startup support is included in the target group for 'Startup for All,' we are shifting direction to provide support."
The budget allocated by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups for the Fund of Funds (Korea Venture Fund) has been set at a record high of 1.3 trillion won. This year, a total of 880 billion won was allocated, consisting of 820 billion won in the main budget and 60 billion won in supplementary budget due to the Middle East war. When combined with budgets from all ministries including the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, it is expected to reach around 2 trillion won.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups had previously seen related budgets cut during last year's main budget and supplementary budget review processes due to the large amount of dry powder (unspent funds) in Fund of Funds (Korea Venture Fund) sub-funds. Regarding this, Noh (Vice Minister) stated, "We aim for an annual venture investment volume of 40 trillion won by 2030," adding, "Considering this, the level of dry powder is not unmanageable."
Budgets have also been allocated for the establishment of a security-focused institutional investor. Modeled after Incell, a defense technology investment institutional investor funded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), this new institutional investor will operate funds co-invested by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, investing exclusively in defense startups. The allocated budget is 3.8 billion won.
Additionally, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups will invest 54.3 billion won in public-private cooperation open innovation projects and 60 billion won in global corporate collaboration programs with global companies such as NVIDIA and OpenAI. It has allocated 156.3 billion won for the "Super-Distance Startup Project" to nurture new industry startups in 12 strategic sectors. In the physical AI sector, it will establish a demonstration project to verify ventures and startups and support AX (artificial intelligence transformation) in small and medium-sized manufacturing sites, investing 172.8 billion won.
In the re-challenge sector, 'Re-challenge Success School' (59.5 billion won) and 'Re-challenge Cheer Project' (33.4 billion won) will be newly established, and the scale of the 'Re-challenge Success Package' will be tripled to 46.9 billion won. The total budget for these three re-challenge projects is approximately 140 billion won.
Noh (Vice Minister) said, "Next year's budget proposal was prepared with a focus on support directions that allow small and medium-sized venture companies to truly grow," adding, "We will pour all our capabilities into realizing an 'Indispensable Republic of Korea' where everyone grows through the SME Venture Growth Ladder and the spread of growth warmth."
[MoneyToday Startup Media Platform Unicorn Factory]
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