Daegu Creative Economy Innovation Center Wins Big in Startup Investment!

## Daegu Creative Economy Innovation Center, Startups Gain Wings for Investment Attraction The Daegu Creative Economy Innovation Center (hereinafter referred to as the Center) has successfully concluded its 'Investment Attraction Support Program,' designed to promote the growth of innovative startups, thereby invigorating the local innovation ecosystem. Conducted as a key part of the 2024 Public-Private Collaborative Open Innovation Support Program, the program concluded its grand finale with a successful IR Demo Day on February 6th. Running for approximately three months from last November, this program focused on strengthening the investment attraction capabilities of excellent startups, recognized for their potential through collaboration with large and medium-sized enterprises, and establishing a foundation for actual investment. Customized investment support was intensively provided to 10 carefully selected companies out of the 31 participating startups. The program was systematically operated in three stages, maximizing the success rate of investment attraction for startups. In the first stage, professional accelerators were matched 1:1 with participating startups, providing close support for IR consulting as well as the creation of IR Decks, which are crucial materials for investment attraction, thereby elevating the companies' investment capabilities by a notch. The subsequent second stage was a Demo Day that garnered significant attention from the investment industry. Venture capital (VC) evaluators from leading domestic firms such as Hanwha Investment & Securities, Bluepoint Partners, and Infobank directly attended, meticulously evaluating the startups' innovative business models and growth potential, and exploring practical investment opportunities. The momentum from the Demo Day continued into the final third stage, which is follow-up support. A Center official stated, "To date, a total of 19 follow-up investment meetings have been successfully arranged, and we are continuously exploring additional investment attraction opportunities using the Center's own funds." This demonstrates the Center's strong commitment to moving beyond mere one-time support to achieve tangible investment outcomes. Kang Byeong-seok, CEO of 3DMC, who participated in this program, expressed high satisfaction, stating, "Through this program, we were able to confirm the practical possibilities of attracting investment." The Daegu Creative Economy Innovation Center is playing a significant role as the sole non-metropolitan host institution for the 'Public-Private Collaborative Open Innovation Support Program,' a joint initiative by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development. It is currently successfully leading innovative collaborative demonstrations between 13 large, medium-sized, and public enterprises and 31 startups, thereby contributing to the revitalization of the local economy. Center Director Han In-guk evaluated that "this program served as a bridge for startups to acquire systematic investment capabilities and proceed towards actual investment attraction," and expressed his ambition to "further invigorate open innovation based on public-private collaboration in the future to solidify Daegu's innovation ecosystem." The Center plans to continuously strive to maximize synergy between startups and large/medium-sized enterprises, to ensure Daegu establishes itself as a cradle of innovative startups.