Busan Startup Center Invests 2.35 Billion Won in 19 Startups

BUSAN — The Busan Center for Creative Economy and Innovation invested more than 2 billion won in 19 promising startups in the first half of this year, positioning itself as a driver of the region's investment ecosystem. The center says its approach goes beyond writing checks, pairing funding with hands-on follow-up support that extends to open innovation, overseas expansion and later funding rounds.

The center said on the 1st that it had signed investment contracts worth 2.35 billion won with 19 startups as of the end of July, through three investment partnerships.

By industry, robotics and physical AI — hardware and robotics built on manufacturing technology combined with artificial intelligence — accounted for the largest share at five deals, or 26%. Examples include Physio Robotics, which develops spinal rehabilitation robots; Underwater Solution, an underwater robotics firm; and IB Tech, which builds ride-on autonomous indoor mobility vehicles. Deep tech and AI infrastructure, healthcare and biotech, and business-to-business logistics and distribution platforms each accounted for three deals, or 16%.

What sets the center apart, it says, is the density of its support after the investment is made. It applies a customized system of key performance indicators for each portfolio company and conducts regular management reviews, while connecting firms with specialists at universities and research institutes and providing mentoring by field to help advance their technology.

The center also links portfolio companies to open innovation projects with large and mid-sized corporations to help expand revenue, and supports fundraising at each growth stage through overseas expansion programs and referrals to follow-on investors.

Underpinning that support is the center's fund management capacity. Its assets under management now total 17.6 billion won, of which 5.9 billion won sits in the Busan Global Bridge Investment Partnership, newly formed in the first half of this year. Drawing on fund management experience built up since it registered as a startup accelerator in 2019, the center plans to continue identifying and investing in promising deep tech startups in the second half.

"Our core role is not to stop at the investment but to build real growth together afterward," said Kim Yong-woo, chief executive of the center. "Based on stable fund management and close follow-up management, we will concentrate our capabilities so that Busan's regional investment ecosystem can take another step forward."