Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC) said on the 15th that it signed a financial support business agreement for fostering startups and venture corporations in Busan with Busan Bank and Busan Metropolitan City.
The agreement was pursued to discover and nurture promising startups and venture corporations in the Busan region and to build a financial support system through collaboration between the private sector and the government. It aims to ease financing costs for startups and revitalize the local startup ecosystem.
Under the agreement, KOTEC will provide special-contribution agreement guarantees totaling 100 billion won, funded by 5 billion won in special contributions from Busan Bank. The guarantee ratio will be raised to 100% from the existing 85%, and guarantee fees will be reduced by 0.4 percentage point (P) for three years. Busan City plans to link interest subsidy funds to lower lending rates by up to 1.5%P for three years.
Eligible recipients are corporations among new technology business operators that meet KOTEC's technology guarantee requirements and have their headquarters or main business site in Busan, namely innovation-driven technology startup corporations and job-creating small and midsize enterprises.
Kim Jong-ho, KOTEC's chairman, said, "Through this agreement, a foundation has been laid for small and midsize enterprises in Busan to grow stably from early startup to the growth stage," adding, "KOTEC will continue to expand public-private cooperation to actively support small and medium venture corporations so they can grow into the key drivers of the regional economy."