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| Gettyimagesbank |
City gov't launches additional incubator in Mapo District for leading startups
By Ko Dong-hwan
Seoul Metropolitan Government on Friday launched a new incubator for digital financing startups.
Seoul Fintech Lab II was unveiled in the city's western Mapo District by the city government's Economic Policy Office. It follows Seoul Fintech Lab I in Yeouido that in 2019 absorbed the city's first fintech startup support center launched in Mapo District in 2018.
Kim Tae-gyun, the chief of the economic policy office who was at the opening event for the new lab, said the new addition will support the city's fintech and blockchain companies that are at the pinnacle of digital financing and give a boost to companies in the industry with high potential for growth.
"Together with Yeouido Fintech Lab, we will operate it as Seoul's leading fintech startup support center," Kim said at the Friday event. Planning and Economy Committee President Lee Suk-ja from the Seoul Metropolitan Council, Korea Fintech Industry Association Chairman Lee Geun-joo and Korea BlockChain Forum Chairman Kim Ki-hong also attended the ceremony.
Last December, the Seoul Metropolitan Government selected 21 startups from those who applied to move into the new lab. The startups that opened less than three years are to receive extensive business support to develop them into unicorn companies, from studying their true business capabilities to understanding their potential clients, specifying in detail their products or services and analyzing their possible revenue models.
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| Common Lounge inside Seoul Fintech Lab II in Mapo District, Seoul / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government |
The lab leases its office space to the selected companies at what it says are affordable rates and provides them with marketing, business consultation and advertisement assistance. Each of the companies can renew their rental contracts every year for up to three years.
The lab also selected 16 additional blockchain startups with up to seven years of experience in the industry from among the applicants as "member companies" and gave them a separate space apart from the other 21 companies. The lab is to provide the member companies with the same perks as the selected startups, including technical mentoring and blockchain education.
Apart from the 37 startups, the city government also plans to move into the new lab with separate professional investors as partner firms to provide the startups with accelerator and venture capital assistance to help them grow further.
The city government plans to run the new Mapo lab and the existing Yeouido lab together so that startups there can grow together yet on separate tracks. The new lab will be responsible for those businesses in the early stages of development, while more mature startups will be at the Yeouido lab, particularly with a focus on expanding to overseas markets.
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