Government Helps Startups to Land Softly in Silicon Valley

The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) successfully completed its first Global Startup Incubating Internship Program (GSIIP), providing 10 startup companies localization support to Silicon Valley.

The MSIP announced on January 7 that its GSIIP, a program geared at helping promising Internet startup companies reach the overseas market, has successfully ended its first run.

The GSIIP is a program designed in cooperation with the Plug & Play Tech Center, a tech startup accelerator, or a business that helps boost young startups, to support the localization efforts of Internet startup companies. 

Ten startup companies that were selected in the first run have been in talks with 103 potential investors and partners. Six startups including Flitto, SEWORKS and wePLANET have been involved in investment talks of 10 billion won (US$9.4 million), and service agreements with international companies. 

In particular, Twinword has established its foreign subsidiary and formed a service agreement with Internet search engine DuckDuckGo. Six other startups are following suit, and have plans to establish subsidiaries of their own.

The MSIP supported office space, travel expenses, export mentoring, coaching, and meetings with counterpart executives to 10 companies that P&P conducted interviews with, which were initially recommended by 49 participating organizations.

Lee Jin-gyu, Director General of the Internet Policy Bureau at the MSIP, said, “The key to success was networking with potential partners and investors.  We expect to get credible results in the near future.” He also added, “The upcoming second run will not only focus on Silicon Valley but will provide localization support to other burgeoning markets such as Europe and Southeast Asia.”