Joint Startup Fund
The Small & Medium Business Administration (SMBA) of South Korea and the National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) of China signed an agreement for cooperation in the field of startup establishment and investment at the 14th Economic Ministerial Meeting between China and South Korea held in Seoul on May 27. The NDRC is an arm of the government of China that is in charge of its macroeconomic and real economic sides.
At the signing ceremony, the two organizations agreed on the pursuit of sustainable economic growth and job creation by means of mutual cooperation between the South Korean government’s Creative Economy policy and the Chinese government’s Mass Entrepreneurship & Innovation policy.
According to the agreement, the two governments are to share their policy regarding startup establishment and startup investment while holding symposiums, forums and investment meetings to the same end on a regular basis. In addition, they are to raise a mutual startup investment fund invested by South Korean and Chinese funds of funds and private capital investors while startup incubators and venture capital associations in both countries expand their cooperation.
Down the road, the Department of High-Tech Industry of the NDRC and the SMBA’s Business Start-up & Venture Bureau are to act as agencies in charge of the fulfillment of the agreement. They are planning to work on specific action plans pertaining to the agreement with the Korea Venture Investment Corporation, the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development, the Academy of Macroeconomic Research of the NDRC, etc.