Korea has launched its first corporate-backed regional mother fund as Gyeongsangbuk-do (North Gyeongsang) Province and POSCO Group be a part of forces to stimulate native startup improvement and stability innovation all through areas. The KRW 1.011 trillion “Gyeongbuk – POSCO Innovation Growth Enterprise Fund” items a model new milestone for public–private collaboration, marking a major step in decentralizing Korea’s enterprise capital ecosystem.
Gyeongbuk and POSCO Kind ₩1 Trillion Innovation Growth Fund
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), POSCO Group, and the Gyeongsangbuk-do (North Gyeongsang) Provincial Authorities formally launched the “Gyeongbuk–POSCO Innovation Growth Enterprise Fund” on October 22 on the Pohang ChangeUp Ground.
The fund, totaling KRW 1.011 trillion (approx. USD 730 million), accommodates KRW 600 billion from the federal authorities’s Fund of Funds (Mother Fund) as anchor capital, blended with investments from POSCO Group, Gyeongbuk Province, 4 regional metropolis governments, and NH NongHyup Monetary establishment.
This marks the first time a major conglomerate has joined a regional mother fund, a nationwide initiative that the MSS began in 2021 to strengthen native startup ecosystems exterior Seoul.
The Gyeongbuk fund will finalize its funding focus in November and begin forming sub-funds totaling KRW 2 trillion (~USD 1.45 billion) over the next two years, with KRW 800 billion earmarked for startups and relocated companies contained in the province.
Gyeongbuk Regional Mother Fund: Rising Korea’s Regional Enterprise Funding Model
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups has now completed the establishment of 4 regional mother funds: Chungnam, Busan, Gangwon, and Gyeongbuk—representing a blended KRW 4 trillion pool.
By the use of these established regional mother fund initiatives, the ministry plans to launch KRW 7 trillion in enterprise sub-funds by the tip of 2025 to drive balanced regional innovation and in the reduction of the funding gap between the capital space and native economies.
The sooner regional mother fund initiatives have been each designed to reflect native monetary strengths and protection targets. Gangwon centered on nurturing seven superior strategic industries, Busan prioritized scale-ups and smart manufacturing, whereas Chungnam centered its first large-scale regional fund on producing unicorn startups and creating its “Bay Valley” innovation hub.
As for Gyeongbuk, the fund is anticipated to operate a central improvement engine for its strategic industries, along with superior provides, secondary batteries, AI-driven manufacturing, and inexperienced energy utilized sciences.
The provincial authorities targets to align this initiative with its long-term KRW 10 trillion “Gyeongbuk G-Star Fund” program by 2034 to hurry up industrial transformation and startup improvement in cities just like Pohang, Gumi, and Gyeongsan.
Public–Private Partnership for Balanced Growth
Minister of SMEs and Startups Han Seong-sook highlighted the significance of the collaboration, saying,
“The Gyeongbuk–POSCO Innovation Growth Enterprise Fund is extraordinarily important as the first regional mother fund to include a major native conglomerate like POSCO.
We’re going to use this model to encourage further regional merchants and institutions to participate in future fund formations.”
Gyeongbuk Governor Lee Cheol-woo moreover emphasised,
“This huge-scale fund will inject new vitality into the province’s enterprise ecosystem. We’re going to work intently with the ministry, POSCO, and native governments to search out promising companies and assist their scale-up.”
On the same time, POSCO Holdings CEO Kim Hak-dong emphasised that the group’s participation shows its dedication to open innovation,
“POSCO will proceed collaborating with startups and regional companions to find out future improvement engines and assemble a sustainable innovation ecosystem.”
Firm Capital Enters Korea’s Regional VC Panorama
The participation of POSCO, Korea’s largest metallic and industrial group, indicators a major shift in how regional enterprise ecosystems are being financed. By integrating firm capital into public-led regional funds, Korea is diversifying its enterprise capital development, reducing dependence on Seoul-based merchants, and embedding industrial expertise immediately into early-stage funding cycles.
This new regional mother fund affords startups in Gyeongbuk unprecedented entry to every capital and firm networks, notably in fields aligned with POSCO’s strategic domains just like metallic, batteries, hydrogen, and smart manufacturing.
The fund moreover helps Korea’s broader approach to distribute startup infrastructure nationwide, reinforcing innovation hubs like Pohang’s ChangeUp Ground and positioning Gyeongbuk as a model for regional monetary revitalization by the use of entrepreneurship.
Korea’s New Template for Regional Innovation
In the long term, the Gyeongbuk–POSCO collaboration beneath Korea’s latest regional mother fund initiative represents a turning degree inside the nation’s enterprise capital evolution. It demonstrates how authorities, native authorities, and essential companies can co-invest to cultivate innovation exterior the capital space.
If worthwhile, this collaborative model may redefine how regional startup ecosystems entice private capital, offering a blueprint for sustainable monetary improvement pushed by native innovation, public perception, and firm participation.
With KRW 2 trillion in deliberate follow-on investments and Korea’s first corporate-backed regional mother fund now operational, Gyeongbuk is positioning itself on the forefront of the nation’s new interval of decentralized, partnership-driven startup improvement.
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