Startup Forum SOUND 2025 Successfully Concludes, Investment & Global Support Expanded

The Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT) and the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) successfully concluded the comprehensive startup conference ‘SOUND 2025’ in collaboration, laying the groundwork for innovative companies to make a new leap forward. For two days starting from the 15th, at Lotte Tower SKY31 and COEX Startup Branch in Seoul, a variety of growth support programs, ranging from investment attraction to overseas expansion and expert consulting, were intensively operated under the vision of ‘NEXT CHAPTER, NEW INNOVATION’. On the first day, a briefing session on technology support systems, participated in by eight organizations including the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), shared support measures for high-tech fields such as AI. Following this, the inauguration ceremony of ‘NEST Alumni’ was held for companies that completed KODIT’s nurturing program ‘Start-up NEST’, providing a venue for active networking and sharing experiences in overcoming crises among companies. The second day focused on creating practical business results. Specific investment consultations were conducted through ‘My Own Meetup’, which matched innovative startups with investors 1:1, and during meetings with open innovation managers from large and mid-sized companies, joint commercialization plans were discussed in depth. In the ‘U-CONNECT FINAL’ IR pitching competition, the highlight of the event, Alsemi, which showcased an AI-based semiconductor design automation solution, won the prestigious Grand Prize after fierce competition. The Top Excellence Award went to Makemake, and the Excellence Award to Revotics, while Raven Materials, Ilmanbaekman, TeamWork, and Interact also received Encouragement Awards, acknowledging their innovativeness. Meanwhile, KODIT actively provided guarantees and market pioneering consulting to startups dreaming of overseas expansion through this conference. Particularly, it declared its unwavering commitment to fully supporting domestic startups in their global market challenges beyond existing Southeast Asian efforts, including plans to open an overseas business support center in Europe next year and promote participation in the Silicon Valley Startup and Venture Campus (SVC) in the United States. Choi Won-mok, Chairman of KODIT, stated, "This event embodies KODIT's strong commitment towards startups' bold leap forward." He emphasized, "As a policy financial institution, we will continue to robustly support the sustainable growth and successful overseas expansion of innovative companies."