The Ministry of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and Startups is in the final stages of preparing to launch its Startup & Venture Campus (SVC) in Silicon Valley.
Organizations under the ministry that will be housed at the SVC are focusing on developing support programs to assist Korean startups in entering the U.S. market, leveraging the integrated hub in Silicon Valley.
Government sources revealed on Friday that the ministry aims to establish the SVC in Silicon Valley by January. The facility will occupy a two-story building with a total area of 960 square meters (about 10,333 square feet) in Menlo Park.
This initiative expands upon the Korean Venture Investment Corporation’s Silicon Valley office, which has been operating since 2013. The SVC will host several organizations, including the Korean Venture Investment Corporation, Korea Small Business Agency, Korea Startup Promotion Agency, and Korea Technology Finance Corporation, to enhance support for startups.
Notably, the SVC’s location in Menlo Park, home to the venture capital hub of Sand Hill Road, is expected to facilitate investment discussions between global venture capitalists and Korean startups.
The organizations moving into the SVC are already preparing their support programs. On Tuesday, the Korea Small Business Agency began recruiting domestic startups for the’K-Startup Center (KSC) within the SVC.
The KSC Silicon Valley will accommodate 30 startups annually, providing them with a physical space to network with local accelerators and venture capitalists.
The center will also establish a pool of experts to provide one-on-one mentoring and assistance with legal, tax, and administrative matters. Additionally, it will offer phased support for local specialized industries such as AI, biotech, software as a service (SaaS), and fintech, covering everything from commercialization to proof of concept (PoC) and investment attraction.
The Korea Startup Promotion Agency plans to support startups by helping them verify their competitiveness in the local market through Product Market Fit (PMF) evaluations.
Furthermore, they will work to identify and connect with local startups interested in entering the Korean market, contributing to the globalization of the domestic startup ecosystem.
The Korea Technology Finance Corporation will play various roles in supporting small businesses’ overseas expansion, including providing guarantees for international ventures, attracting investment for deep tech startups, facilitating technology transfers, offering regulatory consulting, and forming local partnerships.
The Korean Venture Investment Corporation will enhance its operations by focusing on global funds previously managed through its Silicon Valley office. These funds invest in overseas venture capital to create funds that are required to invest in domestic startups.
The SVC is poised to become a one-stop support hub, concentrating the ministry’s startup support capabilities to facilitate the overseas expansion of Korean startups.
Meanwhile, the ministry is planning for Minister Han Seong-sook to attend both the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and the SVC opening ceremony in January.