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Appendix
Table 1. Investment into Startups and Venture Capital in South Korea
Startups technology and Venture
Year Notes
Capital, trillion USD
2017 2,0
2018 2,8
2019 3,6
2020 3,6
2021 6,4
Report by the company provides
2022 4,9 into startups technology data and analysis on the global
startups ecosystem, Tracxn.
8,4 the entire VC market/1,9 startups
2023 technology (plummeted). Total VC Report by MSS
remains high in other sectors.
4,08 (in the first six months of the Report by MSS. Private funds
2024 year)/2,8 government startups recovered in biotech and deep
(government support) tech.
1,84 (global funds)/0,43 (June/2025
2025 only). Focus on attracting foreign Report by MSS. The market is
highly volatile.
capital through global funds.
Source: Saemoon Yoon (2025), This is how South Korea can become a global
innovation hub; https://www.weforum.org/; updated on Jun 3, 2025.
Note: MSS (Ministry of SMEs and Startups) was founded in 2017.

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