South Korean government is seeking for growing its startup ecosystem and it looks at India for this. As per Caleb Kyung Hwan Lee, executive director at the government’s National IT Industry Promotion Agency, South Korean companies will show their keen interest in Indian startups in context of interest in acquisitions as well as investment.
What Lee said about competition with US and China
Lee pointed out that Korea missed on the opportunity to invest in Indian startup wave, even when countries like China and US invested in large numbers. They are looking to grab the opportunity to increase its awareness and collaboration so that it can increase the competition in the arena.
Lee said that main concern is development
Lee made a statement that, “The idea is to strengthen the partnership with India, which is now the world’s second largest startup ecosystem. Indian startup ecosystem has seen explosive growth over the last three years. India is home to 45% of world’s R & D centres outside of the US and has been open to globalization”.
Korea’s hardware and India’s software
He included that the qualities of Korean equipment will supplement India’s quality in software and programming. Additionally, he said that Indian organizations can consider South Korea as a test bed for propelling their items before growing to China and Japan.
K-startup global challenges
The Korean government has revealed its K-startup global challenge. The winning company will get support and investment from the Korean government along with accelerator support as well as contracts with Korean companies.
Indian applicants in challenges would be 15%
Last year, the challenges claims 10% applicants from the India and this year Lee is expecting to grow to 15%. The government supported almost 20 startups through this programme of the world.
Winner of the last year of the challenges
Preksh, the Bengaluru-based augmented reality firm and Soundrex, Mumbai-based sound technology company were the two Indian companies that won the event of last year.
South Korea has registered the world’s fastest internet connectivity along with more than 500 startups.
Awareness of ecosystem
Lee made a statement that reveals that government is working for enhancing the awareness of ecosystem of the country, “The government is planning to invest in startups to create a next generation ecosystem. We also have a helpdesk to deal with language and cultural challenges for startups from other countries”.