VC Investment Event with 11 Local Start Ups and 20 VCs: CnerG Secures 2 Billion KRW Investment from Samho Green Investment...

More and more investors are eyeing start ups in Gwangju. The city's efforts to facilitate pre-exchanges between local startups and investors, leading to substantial investment, seem to be paying off. On the 16th, Gwangju hosted the "2024 Startup Festival Investment Presentation (IR)" with representatives from 11 startups, 20 investors, and about 50 related organizations. This event served as a pre-exchange and checkpoint before the "2024 Gwangju Startup Festival," scheduled for November, to help startups secure actual investments.

Ministry of SMEs and Startups Selects Two Gwangju Companies as ‘Baby Unicorns’

Gwangju City announced on the 3rd that Biot Korea (CEO Jang Young-jun), a developer of medical devices for therapeutic substance delivery, and CnerG (CEO Jin Yong-nam), a renewable energy trading platform, were selected as "baby unicorns" by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. Biot Korea completed a Series A funding round of over 4 billion KRW in 2021 from Korea Investment Partners and Chonnam National University Tech Holding, and also won an innovation award at CES 2023. CnerG developed a clean energy trading platform aimed at achieving RE100 (100% renewable energy usage) targets, which is a key issue for global companies.

Two Gwangju Companies Selected as ‘Baby Unicorns’ by Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Accelerating Growth Towards Global Unicorn Status

Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 3rd that Biot Korea (CEO Jang Young-jun), a developer of medical devices for therapeutic substance delivery, and CnerG (CEO Jin Yong-nam), a renewable energy trading platform, were selected as "baby unicorns" by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, which supports startups with high potential to grow into global unicorns.

Two Gwangju start ups Biot Korea and CnerG Selected as ‘Baby Unicorns’ by Ministry of SMEs and Startups

Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 3rd that the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has selected Gwangju-based companies Biot Korea (CEO Jang Young-jun), a developer of medical devices for therapeutic substance delivery, and CnerG (CEO Jin Yong-nam), a renewable energy trading platform, as "baby unicorns" as part of their global startup growth initiative. According to the city, the Ministry has been helping promising startups and venture companies verified through market validation and investment to grow into global unicorns through the "K-Unicorn Project" since 2019. So far, 250 baby unicorns and 111 pre-unicorns have been selected.

Startups to Watch in 2024: Baby Unicorn 50 and Pre-Unicorn 15

On Thursday the 27th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced the selection of 50 "baby unicorn" companies and 15 "pre-unicorn" companies that have high potential to grow into global unicorns. Since 2019, the Global Unicorn Project has selected a total of 250 baby unicorns and 111 pre-unicorns. In this round, 199 companies applied for the baby unicorn development program, and 107 for the pre-unicorn special guarantee, with competition ratios of about 4:1 and 7:1, respectively. Baby unicorns receive market development funds (up to 300 million KRW), and this year, a special guarantee from Korea Technology Finance Corporation (up to 5 billion KRW) was introduced to ensure rapid access to growth funds.