The lobby of Google Korea headquarters in Seoul (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — U.S. tech giant Google has invested a cumulative 118 billion won (US$87.9 million) to incubate nearly 500 South Korean startups and help them go abroad, a company official said Thursday.
Google’s ChangGoo Program — launched in 2019 in cooperation with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups — is aimed at discovering potential young developers and fledgling businesses and helping them become profit-making companies through the tech firm’s information technology infrastructure and global network.
The program includes various educational workshops and conferences, mentoring activities and networking events.
Kay Shin, senior director of marketing, APAC platforms & ecosystems, said the program is an indigenous one in South Korea as Google has credited Korean developers with an ambitious spirit and outstanding capability, citing the Korean developer Sohn Ho-yeol, who won the 2023 edition of Google’s data science and technology competition, Kaggle.
“There are many successful startups from our incubation program,” she said during a press event. “We’ve funneled more than 118 billion won into the ChangGoo Program since its launch to support those young companies.”
She said Google has invited 80 potential startups annually to its program since its launch in 2019, and the number was increased to 100 for this year. Nearly 500 companies have participated in the program over the cited period.
This photo provided by Google Korea shows Kay Shin (C), senior director of marketing, Asia-Pacific platforms and ecosystems, and participants of Google’s ChangGoo Program posing for a photo during a press event in Seoul on Aug. 17, 2023.
Participants in the ChangGoo Program have seen downloads of their applications soar 140 percent and revenues 62 percent from 2019-2021. About 69 percent of them also do their business outside Korea, she added.
“Our biggest goal is to serve as a bridgehead for helping Korean developers go abroad,” the Google official said.
“This year, we will join hands with Japan’s Google for Startups program and let Korean developers meet with Japanese experts before starting their businesses in the neighboring country.”
Google for Startups is the tech giant’s startup incubation program at the global level.
At the press event, the three best-performing startups from the ChangGoo program — Petpeotalk, Medility and Zackdang Company — also introduced and promoted themselves.
(Yonhap)
