First Investment Boom in 3 Years! ComeUp 2025 Draws Global Investors

The domestic venture investment market is experiencing a full-fledged rebound, the first in three years since 2022. Amidst this revitalization, Asia's largest startup festival, 'COMEUP 2025', will open its doors at COEX in Seoul from December 10th to 12th. This event, co-hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Startup Forum, plans to focus its efforts on attracting investment and strengthening global cooperation. According to an announcement by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, new venture investments in the first to third quarters of this year recorded 9.8 trillion KRW, an increase of 13.1% compared to the previous year, with the third-quarter performance alone exceeding 4 trillion KRW for the first time since the pandemic. The formation of venture funds is also showing a rebound for the first time in three years, with private sector contributions accounting for 83% of the total, signaling the market's recovery. COMEUP has continuously achieved remarkable growth since its first hosting in 2019. Visitors have nearly quadrupled from 21,000 to 80,000, and participating countries have also expanded from 19 to 45. Notably, in 2024, 150 out of 260 participating startups, accounting for 58%, were international companies, proving its establishment as a true 'global startup hub'. Last year at COMEUP, a total of 1,860 business matchings were concluded, an increase of over 80% compared to the previous year. Among these, meetings with investors numbered 474, and cooperation meetings with large corporations and CVCs reached 245, leading to active exchanges. Notably, 8 domestic startups that presented through K-Globalstar IR successfully attracted over 20 billion KRW in investment, and 54 Korean startups also attracted a total of 111.8 billion KRW in investment through COMEUP-linked global funds, generating substantial results. This year, COMEUP 2025 aims to open new horizons for the startup ecosystem under the slogan 'Recode the Future', with technology, global outreach, and entrepreneurship as its core themes. In particular, support for investment attraction will be significantly strengthened, with 35 leading companies (including Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai Motor Company, NVIDIA, NHN, etc.) participating in the open innovation program. They will facilitate practical investment and cooperation through 1:1 meetups and sharing of collaboration cases with promising domestic startups. Keynote speakers include Tarek Amin, CEO of Humain, a Saudi state-owned AI company, and Park Sung-hyun, CEO of Rebellions, who will share their future technologies and visions. International participation will also be further expanded, with 7 countries including Saudi Arabia, India, Japan, and Canada operating national pavilions this year, up from 4 last year, and 3 new countries including Australia, Angola, and Sierra Leone joining. Furthermore, diverse values will be highlighted through specialized sessions for social ventures pursuing social impact, sharing of insights from innovators such as Kim Jong-gyu, CEO of SixtyHertz, and the operation of booths by impact investment firms like SoPoong Ventures. A variety of programs are also prepared for students and general attendees, including the 'COMEUP Docent Tour', the 'COMEUP Flea Market' where B2C startup products can be experienced and purchased, and startup idea presentations by 8 entrepreneurial teams from 6 domestic and international universities including Seoul National University, making it a festival open to all. In addition, several linked events will be richly presented, including the 'OpenData X AI Challenge Opening Ceremony', the 'Challenge! K-Startup 2025 King of Kings' joint startup competition by 10 ministries, and the '2025 K-Startup Grand Challenge Demoday'. Han Sung-sook, Minister of SMEs and Startups, expressed her anticipation, stating, "At COMEUP 2025, you will be able to witness the future that startups are newly rewriting, from deep-tech innovation to global expansion and entrepreneurship spreading throughout society."