IBK Industrial Bank of Korea Announces Venture and Startup Support Plan for the Year “Providing Venture Capital, Over $751 Million”

Joo-hyun Kim, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission (centre), Sung-tae Kim, President of Industrial Bank of Korea (second from left), and participants are posing for a photo at the ‘IBK Changgong Field Meeting’ held at IBK Changgong Guro, Seoul on 1 February.

IBK Changgong(IBK창공), the startup incubation platform of IBK Bank(IBK기업은행), hosted the ‘IBK Changgong Field Meeting’ at IBK Changgong Guro in Seoul.

Hosted by Joo-hyun Kim, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the meeting was attended by Sung-tae Kim, President of IBK Bank, and the representatives of 6 companies (N-onetech, 42Maru, Perfitt, Hopae, Tilda and VillageBaby) from IBK Changgong.

Six companies from IBK Changgong attended the meeting and shared their growth stories with the support of IBK Changgong.

The company representatives cited specific examples and experiences of IBK Changgong’s support, such as investment and loans, tailored strategy consulting, market development support through open innovation, and global acceleration programmes, and requested further support from IBK Bank and the government.

In response, Sung-tae Kim, President of Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), expressed IBK Bank’s intention to continue supporting venture and startup companies through its Venture and Startup Support Plan 2024, and promised specific support measures such as opening more IBK Changgong, expanding venture and startup funding, expanding overseas expansion programmes for venture and startup companies, and considering the establishment of a new IBK Venture and Startup Support Centre (tentative name).

IBK plans to contribute to the revitalisation of the local economy by opening more IBK Changgong branches in Gwangju and Daegu, and to strengthen its support for the overseas expansion of venture and startup companies by establishing IBK Changgong Europe this year, following the establishment of IBK Changgong Silicon Valley last year.

To expand financial support for start-ups, IBK will provide venture capital of more than $751 million (KRW 1 trillion) and support venture loans of more than $75.1 million (KRW 100 billion) this year.

In addition, IBK will actively consider establishing the IBK Venture & Startup Support Centre (tentative name) to provide one-stop financial and non-financial services for venture and startup companies, including investment and financing support and customised consulting.

Sung-tae Kim, President of Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), said: “We will do our best to enable more Korean entrepreneurs to embrace new technologies and industries. As a policy-based financial institution that supports government policies, we will always listen to the opinions of the industry.