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Korean government endorses 15 future unicorn startups

Philip Lee profile image
by Philip Lee
Korean government endorses 15 future unicorn startups

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced 15 pre-unicorn startups under the review of 66 candidates for two months. Known as "Preliminary Unicorn Startup Specialty Warranty," the program is one of the projects in the "K-Unicorn Startup Project" by the Korean government, and the designated startup can receive the specialty warranty up to KR 10B(USD 8.3M) when the startup is borrowing money from the financial institutes.

The preliminary unicorn startups met all those criteria for the designation.

1. Market Proven: Attracted more than KRW 5B from the venture capitals.

2. Growth: 20% Average growth for three years or Revenue increase of more than KRW10B within two years.

3. Innovation: Technological business grade – More than BB grade.

The professional review team(Composed of 15 experts) and the external review team(Composed of external experts, head: Jang, Byung-Kyu, Chairman of Krafton) participated in designating the preliminary 15 unicorns out of 66 candidates' startups.

The list of the preliminary unicorn startups. Source: Ministry of SMEs and Startups/

Here is the list of the preliminary unicorn startups.

Future Unicorn StartupStageGross Investment Attraction AmountBusiness Model
NeuromekaBKRW 8BIndustrial Robot.
LivsmedAKRW 1.6BMulti-joint laparoscopic surgical instruments.
BackpackrDKRW 46BE-Commerce on craft goods.
Balance HeroCKRW 70.3BPayment platform for Indian Market.
Be My CarBKRW 27BIntelligence Mobility System development based on Rent-a-car.
Sandbox NetworkCKRW 40BMCN Management
StradVisionBKRW 44.7BCamera based driving safety system.(ADAS adopted)
IGAWorksPre-IPOKRW54.5BAd-and Marketing Solution
AblyAKRW 7BAggregation of the fashion by celebrities.
Ensol Bio ScienceCKRW 21.1BImmunity enhancement and metastasis suppression
Jeju BeerBKRW 3.9BCraft Beer
CroquisCKRW 10BE-Commerce on Fashion
Take One CompanyCKRW 17BGaming company with the BTS manager simulation game
FreshEasyCKRW 93BMealkit Production
PlasmappCKRW 23BPlasma sterilizer for medical tools
Philip Lee profile image
by Philip Lee

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