The fastest way to meet investors… Northern Gyeonggi Youth Entrepreneurship Academy accelerates startup growth

For early-stage startups, the opportunity to meet investors serves as a critical turning point for business growth. However, as investment review opportunities tend to be concentrated on specific companies, there remains a shortage of venues where early-stage startups can directly meet with various investors to introduce their businesses. Consequently, practical investment programs that connect startups with investors are establishing themselves as a core support method within the early-stage investment ecosystem.

CNT Tech (CEO Jeon Hwa-seong), the private operator of the Korea Small Business & Venture Corporation's Youth Entrepreneurship Academy, held the '2026 Northern Gyeonggi Youth Entrepreneurship Academy Investment Roundtable'.

This event was attended by 14 companies that wished to participate from among the 16th cohort of the Northern Gyeonggi Youth Entrepreneurship Academy selected this year, and one-on-one investment meetings were conducted with each company by inviting active venture capitalists (VCs) and accelerators (ACs). The participating companies had the opportunity to receive investment consultations at least three times.

The event was attended by Team Leader Yoo Jun-mo of Capstone Partners, Director Choi Dong-eun of Krypton, Senior Team Leader Park Yu-jin of Daekyo Investment, Team Leader Son Hyung-woo of Nautilus Investment, and others.

In Part 1, moderated by Center Director Park Jung-sook, participating investors were introduced, key investment sectors and recent case studies were shared, and a Q&A session was held with the startups. In the subsequent Part 2, at least three one-on-one investment meetings were conducted for each company, lasting 15 minutes per session, during which in-depth consultations on business models and investment strategies took place.

"The growth drive and execution capabilities of the early-stage startup CEOs were impressive," said Son Hyung-woo, Team Leader at Nautilus Investment. "Nexton demonstrated rapid business results, such as conducting a PoC with a large corporation just over a year after its founding, and Toobi Labs is proving the completeness of its product by conducting a PoC with two fund managers simultaneously, so I would like to continue follow-up meetings."

Kim Seong-chan, CEO of Jachwinam Real Estate Brokerage Corporation, who participated in the event, said, “It was a meaningful time where we were able to hold investment meetings with various VCs in one place, which are difficult for early-stage startups to access,” adding, “It was very helpful to receive practical advice from the investment managers on directions for improving IR and business strategies.”

The Youth Entrepreneurship Academy is a representative startup support program operated by the Korea Small Business and Venture Corporation, providing up to 100 million won in commercialization funds, education, coaching, office space, and prototype production to young startup companies with excellent technology and items.

The Northern Gyeonggi Youth Entrepreneurship Academy operates as an investment-oriented program, with CNT Tech directly responsible for selecting and incubating trainees. It supports the scaling up of early-stage startups through investment-specialized education and investment linkage programs.