Apply now and win a total of $270,000 in awards. Participants will also receive diverse benefits and support in line with South Korea’s $8B startup investment plan.
SAN FRANCISCO, April 26, 2023 — Global startups are invited to participate in the 8th K-Startup Grand Challenge (KSGC), an annual accelerator program designed to nurture the next generation of superstar startups.
Scheduled from July 25 to November 10 this year, the equity-free acceleration program allows fledgling startups from around the world to test and run their ideas in South Korea, providing a stepping stone to expand further into Asia.
Finalists of the state-run program will have the chance to attract investments from local venture capitalists, work on proof-of-concept projects with tech giants like Samsung and LG, and build business relations with established companies such as webportal giant Naver and ecommerce heavyweight Coupang.
In line with the government’s startup support policies, investments by big corporates, including Posco, KB Financial Group, Hanwha Group, have been increasing over the past years. Corporates contributed to funding rounds that totaled more than $17.3B in 2022, accounting for 54% of the total investments in the nation, according to the Tech Scaleup South Korea report.
South Korea’s 95% smartphone penetration rate and advanced network infrastructure will also make it easy for ecommerce and mobile startups to operate.
Since its inception in 2016, the KSGC has successfully supported startups from around the world, including Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia.
- Apostera, an augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) software firm, was acquired by HARMAN, a Samsung subsidiary.
- Bear Robotics raised $81M Series B to scale up mobile robots in the hospitality industry.
- The participating startups raised a total of 68.2B Korean won ($51.3M) in funding while their aggregated sales reached 14.9B Korean won ($11.2M).
Apply now at the KSGC website from April 10 to May 18 (4:00PM, KST).
Who is eligible to apply?
Startups who have been operating for less than 7 years or have at least one founding team member who is not a Korean national and at least one product or service with measurable traction are eligible. They must have a clearly defined objective of expanding their business into the Asian market, with the Korean market serving as a gateway.
Instructions and registration information are available at:
Website: https://www.k-startupgc.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kstartupgc
SOURCE KIC Silicon Valley
