invest Seoul

Number of incubating companies

According to the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2021 released by 'Startup Genome', a global startup ecosystem analysis organization in the United States, Seoul is ranked 10th out of 280 cities with a global startup ecosystem. Moreover, its startup ecosystem value is evaluated to be 54 trillion won.

Startup Genome pointed out an outstanding talent pipeline and large amounts of R&D investment as the strengths of Seoul.
In particular, Seoul ranked high (with the global top four ranking) in knowledge accumulation,
which is evaluated using research achievements and patents.
Of the eleven domestic unlisted unicorn companies valued at over 1 trillion won, nine companies are located in Seoul.
Hence, it can be said that Seoul has a rich corporate environment.

Furthermore, Startup Genome has evaluated the growth potential of Seoul's startup ecosystem to be high in that the city of Seoul has actively implemented its startup policy. For example, the city has created a cluster of startup bases across all areas of Seoul.

• 

  Startup Ecosystem Value
  in Seoul

  223 trillion won
  ($177 bn)
• 

  Early-stage Funding
  in Seoul

  2.9 trillion won
  ($2.3 bn)
• 

  Ranking of Global Startup
  Ecosystem

  No.10

※ Source : Startup Genome, Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2022

The Seoul Metropolitan Government created the Future Innovation Growth Fund in 2018 to lead job creation and economic growth by investing intensively in start-ups, venture companies, and small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs) in major industries.

The Future Innovation Growth Fund is a fund that intensively invests in six fields including industry 4.0, smart city, cultural content, startup support, re-challenge support, and bio/medical. The Seoul Metropolitan Government has invested 168.6 billion won in this fund and has raised a fund of 3,836.4 billion won, completing 1,363 investments as of February 2023.

The initial goal was 1.431 trillion won over five years by 2022. However, Seoul City’s active investment in financial resources combined with investments from the private sector allowed the city to achieve 268% of the goal.

• 

  Total amount of subvention

  3.8 trillion won
• 

  Total amount of investment

  2.3 trillion won
• 

  Total number of companies
  receiving investment

  1,363 companies

※ As of the Feb 2023

The city of Seoul has implemented full-scale startup policies since 2009 to invigorate the startup ecosystem,
beginning with the 'Young People Startup 1000 Project', which selects and cultivates 1,000 prospective young entrepreneurs each year.

The city has continually expanded startup bases for startup incubation, commercialization, and networking to foster the ecosystem
by district and industry by operating startup support centers such as Mapo Seoul Startup Hub, Hongneung Bio Hub, and Yangjae AI Hub.
From 2012 to December 2021, the city of Seoul has fostered about 13,000 companies. Through these companies,
the city of Seoul has achieved 5 trillion won in sales, attracted investments of 854.3 billion won, and created over 17000 jobs.

• 

  Number of startups
  supported by Seoul City

  14,195
• 

  Sales of the startups
  supported by Seoul City

  5.3 trillion won
• 

  Number of employees of
  startups supported
  by Seoul City

  21,340

(2012~December 2022)

The Seoul Metropolitan Government, as a public domain, is making great efforts to revitalize the start-up ecosystem in cooperation with the private sector. In order to strengthen the capabilities of Seoul-based start-ups, Seoul City also provides a variety of support programs to nurture start-ups together with big businesses, institutional investors, and specialized agencies including Seoul Business Agency(SBA).

Seoul City also operates 40 start-up support facilities together with the private sector professionals and promotes the scale-up of start-ups via running over 1,810 support programs.

Both the public and private sectors will work together to make Seoul City a good place to start a business and a city where you can find good quality jobs.

• 

  Start-up support program
  (2017 ~ Dec. 2022)

  1,810
• 

  Start-up support facilities
  (as of Feb. 2023)

  26
• 

  Start-up support partner
  organizations with Seoul City
  (as of Dec. 2021)

  184