The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) and the Korea Venture Business Association said on the 27th that they held the 2025 venture trillion-won corporations ceremony at EL Tower in Seoul.
The ceremony was prepared to celebrate corporations among about 136,000 that have been verified as venture businesses at least once since the venture certification system began in 1998 and, as of the end of last year, achieved and maintained 100 billion won in sales.
Since its first announcement in 2005, "venture trillion-won" has established itself as a representative brand symbolizing sustainable scale-up of venture corporations. Not only corporations that have now grown into large corporations, such as Naver, Kakao, Nexon, NCSoft, Celltrion, and Krafton, but also major domestic unicorn corporations such as Toss, Kurly, Bucketplace, and Musinsa are cited as representative venture trillion-won corporations.
This year there are 985 venture trillion-won corporations, up 8.5% from the previous year, marking a record high. Among them, 28 corporations have surpassed 1 trillion won in sales.
In particular, venture trillion-won corporations employed 356,000 people last year, showing a scale of job creation that surpassed Samsung (285,000), the largest corporate group in Korea. Total sales of 258 trillion won, converted to business group rankings, would place them third after Samsung and Hyundai Motor.
At the event, commemorative trophies were awarded to 115 corporations that surpassed 100 billion won in sales for the first time last year. The MSS and major support agencies also staged a "trillion-won corporations alliance (Alliance)" performance together.
Minister Han Seong-sook said in congratulatory remarks that "the power of innovation that achieved 100 billion won in sales even amid crisis is rewriting the direction of the Korean economy," and "we will strengthen tailored support so that venture trillion-won corporations that have passed technology and market verification in Korea can make an even greater leap on the global stage."