Korean Government Kicks Off Aggressive Program to Place Startups in Global Accelerators

Seoul, South Korea, September 17, 2015 (Newswire.com) - ​​​​​​​Korea’s National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) has selected 40 high performing startups to participate in K-Global Startup Engine. The program, which kicks off this week, will help prepare startups for global success and ultimately aims to place many of the finalists into global accelerators.

Unlike other acceleration programs run by the Korean government, eight world leading partner accelerators including Techstars, 500 Startups, Seedcamp, HAX, Chinaccelerator​, Startup Bootcamp, Alchemist and Open Network Lab, actively participated in setting initial criteria for selection and will provide feedback throughout the program. Ultimately they will select some of the finalists to join their full three month programs around the world.

Korean startups are building world class technologies, but many struggle when it comes to penetrating overseas markets. Through Startup Engine, in partnership with some of the world's most renowned accelerators, we aim to provide Korean startups with everything they need for global success.

Jihye Ahn, Startup Engine Program Director

Following a month’s intensive pre-acceleration in Korea, the program will culminate in a spectacular demo day in Seoul on October 21. All 40 startups will pitch their companies in front of decision makers from the partner accelerators, government officials and industry onlookers. By helping to place participating startups into global accelerators, NIPA will dramatically increase their chances of overseas success.

HyungKyu Lim​, Startup Engine Program Director at NIPA said: “Korean startups are building world class technologies, but many struggle when it comes to penetrating overseas markets. Through Startup Engine, in partnership with some of the world’s most renowned accelerators, we aim to provide Korean startups with everything they need for global success. The pre-acceleration program in Seoul we will furnish the 40 Startup Engine finalists with the basics of building a successful company. Those selected by our partner accelerators will then gain a powerful boost in skills, networks and experience that they can only get as part of a global accelerator. We are excited to see confident strides forward by the startups in the coming months.”

The pre-acceleration program, which runs for four weeks, will be led by expert mentors from disciplines including entrepreneurship, finance, law, marketing, global communications and design. It will consist of hands-on workshops and individual coaching sessions, aimed at addressing specific challenges encountered by Korean startups. This approach improves their chances of being selected by the accelerators, but also improves the chances of succeeding in overseas markets whether they are selected or not.

CEO of DEV Korea, Kaine Kim, who is managing the program explained: “We’ve seen a lot of promising ideas in Korea go nowhere because the startup founders lack the global networks, expertise and vision to break out of their domestic market. We are confident Startup Engine will help fix that and will push the selected startups to the next level.”

This is the second time that NIPA has organized Startup Engine for promising Korean startups. It’s first program, last year, was smaller in scale, but still managed to place three startups in overseas accelerators. This year NIPA and the program managers are expecting even bigger results.

Nathan Millard, CEO of G3 Partners, who is delivering a number of sessions during the pre-acceleration phase, has experienced working with many startup-focused government programs over the years: “While overseas programs in the past were often scrappy and lacked long term value, I feel NIPA’s Startup Engine has addressed many of the learnings from previous years and is well positioned to make a positive long term impact on the participating teams. Korean startups are at a cross-roads and I’m very positive about the outcome for Startup Engine this year.”​

​For a full list of the startups in this year's program visit the K-Global Startup Engine website at http://startupengine.kr/

About K-Global Startup Engine

K-Global Startup Engine is a program sponsored by Korea's National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA)  and the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. The program aims to help the country’s most promising startups earn spots at leading accelerators from around the world, which have partnered with the program in its second year. As part of the pre-acceleration program in Seoul, experienced mentors and industry experts will provide intensive mentoring through group and 1-1 sessions to help the teams upskill in key areas. Pre-acceleration will culminate in a Demo Day attended by all partner accelerators, where they will chose teams to join their full overseas program.

About NIPA

The National IT Promotion Agency (NIPA) is devoted to enhancing the competitiveness of Korea's technology industries, in order to contribute to overall economic growth. Formed from the merger of several governmental organizations, NIPA participates in policy research related to technology. It provides training and support for technology companies, students and employees. It helps establish new distribution channels and markets for Korean companies, and offers support with overseas marketing. NIPA further supports international exchanges, cooperation, and overseas expansion related to Korea's IT industry.

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Press Contacts

English

Nathan Millard
CEO, G3Partners
nathan@g3partners.asia ​
+82 (0)10 8723 7702

Korean

Elli Kim
​PR Executive, G3 Partners
elli@g3partners.asia
+82 (0)10 5031 7212