The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said on the 13th that starting on the 16th through Sept. 30, it will recruit TIPS operators from among investment firms with investment and incubation capabilities, such as startup accelerators and early-stage specialist venture capital (VC).
TIPS is a public-private partnership startup support system in which private operators use their expertise and capabilities to select and invest in startups, and the government provides linked support such as research and development (R&D) and startup commercialization funds. There are currently 120 TIPS operators. So far, more than 3,700 startups have participated and attracted over 17 trillion won in follow-on investment.
In particular, as the new government's economic growth strategy presents the discovery of promising corporations through TIPS as a key task, the TIPS program will be substantially strengthened, and as a first step, the number of operators that discover and recommend promising corporations will be greatly increased.
Through this announcement, the ministry will recruit approximately 30 additional operators. In the selection process, additional points will be given to investment firms located outside the Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon metropolitan area, to investment firms with strong pre-TIPS recommendation records, and to scale-up TIPS operators.
Investment firms wishing to participate as TIPS operators should apply on the TIPS website from Sept. 16 to 6 p.m. on Sept. 30. Selected operators will first be designated as preliminary operators and will be converted to general operators after a two-year evaluation.
Cho Kyung-won, director of startup policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "We hope that excellent investment firms will join as TIPS operators so the startup ecosystem can be revitalized by actively discovering promising technology startups and providing more opportunities for growth."