South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance, together with other ministries, published a comprehensive plan to generate a nationwide “startup boom” under the National Start-up Era strategy. The package is structured around expanding “Everyone’s Start-up” participation, scaling tech and local entrepreneurship, and strengthening the startup ecosystem through finance, regulation, open innovation and re-challenge support. The measures include a second “Everyone’s Start-up” project to be 추진 within the year using a KRW 0.2tn supplementary budget, with nationwide auditions to identify founders and awards of at least KRW 1bn for the final winner alongside follow-on investment. For tech entrepreneurship, the government will select and support 10 “startup cities”, first designating four cities hosting science and technology institutes in 2026 (Daejeon, Daegu, Gwangju, Ulsan) and adding six more, focused on non-metropolitan areas, in the first half of 2027; selected cities will receive bundled support across talent, R&D, investment and startup space, and universities will ease startup-related rules including shortening approval procedures from up to six months to around two weeks and expanding leave options. Funding measures include up to KRW 350m per startup for commercialisation, a Regional Growth Fund master fund of at least KRW 450bn in 2026 and KRW 2tn by 2030, and allocating at least 50% of TIPS to non-capital-region companies. For local entrepreneurship, the plan accelerates “Everyone’s local commercial districts”, including 17 “glocal” districts and 50 theme districts through 2030, and expands the LIPS programme from 300 to 450 firms with matched loans up to KRW 500m and commercialisation funding up to KRW 200m, alongside a new KRW 40bn “lifestyle innovation” R&D support line. On ecosystem reforms, the package introduces a three-part set of private-investment measures covering stronger non-capital-region incentives (including increasing preferential loss coverage from 10% to 15% for eligible sub-funds and offering a put option up to 30% for first investors), a venture-capital intermediation platform planned for the second half of 2026, and steps to expand retirement and public pension venture investment, including a planned 2027 legal amendment to allow retirement pensions to invest in venture assets. Further initiatives include a KRW 50bn “startup boom fund” in 2026 focused on “Everyone’s Start-up” participants, plans to designate mega-special zones with menu-style regulatory exemptions for strategic-industry startups, open-innovation grants of up to KRW 340m per project, an AI manufacturing programme covering 30 processes in 2026 and more than 1,000 processes by 2030, and a re-challenge platform plus a KRW 1tn re-challenge fund by 2030, supplemented by additional dedicated re-start funding and expanded re-challenge package support.
Ministry of Economy & Finance (South Korea) 2026-04-23
South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance unveils National Start-up Era package to build 10 startup cities and expand venture finance incentives
The Ministry of Economy and Finance of South Korea, with other ministries, has announced a National Start-up Era strategy to trigger a nationwide “startup boom” by expanding participation, scaling tech and local entrepreneurship, and strengthening the ecosystem through finance, regulation and open innovation. Measures include a KRW 0.2tn “Everyone’s Start-up” project, designation and bundled support for 10 “startup cities”, expanded regional funding, and enhanced incentives for non-capital-region venture investment and pension participation in venture assets. The plan also foresees regulatory special zones, AI manufacturing support, and a KRW 1tn re-challenge fund by 2030 to support failed entrepreneurs’ restart efforts.