An accelerating program to foster ocean and fisheries startups is supporting investment, research and development (R&D), and market development to energize the marine and fisheries startup ecosystem.
Korea Institute of Marine Science & Technology Promotion (KIMST) is overseeing, and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries is hosting, the "2026 ocean and fisheries accelerator operation program (Unicorn Bay)," a program that discovers promising startups in the ocean and fisheries sector and provides comprehensive support for commercialization, investment, R&D, and market development.
For prospective founders and corporations within seven years of founding, it provides early commercialization funds, tailored mentoring, investment attraction, market development, linkage to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' technology startup support (TIPS) and the small business investment linkage support (LIPS), and more.
Unicorn Bay has nurtured a total of 47 corporations over five cohorts from 2021 through this year. Starting with six companies in 2021, it selected 10 companies each in 2022 and 2023, nine in 2024, and 12 in 2026.
Investment results are also continuing. From 2021 to 2024, it directly invested a total of 1.8 billion won in nine corporations and linked eight corporations to TIPS, supporting the securing of 6.4 billion won in R&D funds. This year, it directly invested 500 million won in three corporations, and is pursuing an additional 1 billion won investment in three corporations and TIPS linkage for two corporations.
A leading example is Daebo, a smart blue food home meal replacement (HMR) manufacturing corporation. Daebo received IR consulting, investment counseling, and early commercialization funds, and is now under review for a direct investment of 700 million won and scale-up TIPS linkage, and achieved 11.5 billion won in sales last year.
BM COS, a marine bio cosmetics corporation, is also a representative Unicorn Bay success story. Developing cosmetics using Boryung mud, BM COS received support for investment linkage, overseas expansion mentoring, and corporate promotion, and was also selected for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) TIPS. It has now entered 11 countries, including U.S. Costco and Amazon, and recorded 8.5 billion won in sales last year.
Unicorn Bay operates the program with a "focus track" centered on technology development and validation aligned to corporations' growth stages, and a "bridge track" centered on market expansion. It also supports on-site proof of concept (PoC) in cooperation with Mokpo National University, Pukyong National University, Smart Fisheries and Fishing Village Forum, and the Korea Gim Industry Federation, and leverages the investment capabilities of CNTTech, an entrusted manager of the Agrifood Fund of Funds, to facilitate follow-on investment.
KIMST plans to expand cooperation with capital-area investment institutions and large and mid-sized corporations to build a virtuous cycle in which technologies validated in the regions lead to investment and market entry. Along with this, it will actively support participating corporations' global expansion and private investment attraction by utilizing the newly formed Agrifood Fund of Funds and an open innovation network of large food corporations.