Your Quick Start Guide to Busan’s Startup Scene
South Korea
Busan
Activation Phase
MEMBERS:
Busan Center for Creative Economy and Innovation
Busan Metropolitan City
Busan aims to become an innovative startup city global talent and investors flock to. We are also pursuing qualitative growth by expanding startup infrastructure, programs and funds. As an open city and home to global talent, Busan welcomes startups and future entrepreneurs.
Sub-sector Strengths
Smart Cities
Busan Metropolitan City and the Busan Center for Creative Economy and Innovation are operating the Busan Smart City Living Lab, which attracts global smart city startups. By 2024, the city will also see a cluster for five innovation projects which will be located in the Busan Eco Delta City spread over 2.8 square kilometers. This will create a model of an innovative industrial ecosystem that can implement creative business models related to big data, IoT, AI and robots.
Marine Tech
Broader Busan is home to 90% of South Korea’s shipbuilding companies, including Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries, and STX. STEM Village, a proposed marine science and technology industry innovation center, will house an incubation center, marine equipment, a sensor inspection and calibration center, a STEM fusion research center and marine tech startups. Just over half of the country’s marine companies are based in Busan.
Why you should invest in Busan
TOTAL EARLY STAGE FUNDING
<$50 m
GLOBAL AVG.
$431 m
ECOSYSTEM VALUE
<$100 m
GLOBAL AVG.
$10.5 bn
Top 20 APAC Ecosystem
Knowledge
1
Exit Growth
INDEX
INDEX
1
Investor Activity
INDEX
INDEX
9
Funding Growth
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Reasons to move your startup to Busan
Tax Incentives
High-tech companies with foreign investors receive a 100% exemption from corporate income tax for 5 years. Tax credits are available for some startup investments and merger or acquisition of innovative SMEs.
Strong Infrastructure
Busan is home to 61 startup incubators, 12 venture capital firms, 13 accelerators, 12 angel groups, 27 funds worth ~$465 million, Busan Startup Week and the Startup Conference BOUNCE.
COVID-19 Policy
South Korea introduced a $9.8 billion stimulus package in order to cushion the impact of COVID-19, including subsidies to help affected SMEs pay employees. Busan City is providing a total of $150 million in public welfare subsidies to small business owners suffering from the COVID-19 crisis in the region. Also, the Busan Credit Guarantee Foundation allocated special funds to support small business owners.
Startup Community
Startup Genome
Members
MEMBER
Busan Center for Creative Economy and Innovation
MEMBER
Busan Metropolitan City
Busan, a bustling city of approximately 3.5 million residents, is located on the southeastern tip of the Korean peninsula. The size of Busan is 770.07km² which is only 0.8% of the whole landmass of the Korean Peninsula.
The natural environment of Busan is a harmonious relationship of mountains, rivers, and sea.
Startup Genome
Partners
Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Busan Office)
Busan Economic Promotion Agency
Busan Techno Park
Design Council Busan
Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency
Busan Institute for Talent & Lifelong Education
Busan Business Incubation Centers
Busan United Holdings
Featured Articles from
Local Ambassadors
Get connected
Are you interested in diving deeper into this ecosystem? Drop us a message. Our Ambassadors and Partners can plug you in.