The Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT) has announced its support for four innovative startups through its Innovation Icon Support Program. The KCGF’s program selects startups with innovative business models and new technologies and supports them in becoming unicorn companies. This move comes at a crucial time when the venture investment ecosystem has shrunk due to global financial crises.
Out of 179 applicants, four startups were selected through document screening, on-site inspections, and a professional judging panel. These startups include:
Nota: The AI startup’s software helps businesses improve the efficiency of their AI models by reducing their size without losing accuracy. This enables companies to deploy AI models more easily and cost-effectively, improving their ability to leverage AI technology in various applications. In 2021, Nota raised $6.7 million in a Series A funding round led by Samsung SDS and LG CNS, among other investors.
CHEQUER Inc.: The startup has developed QueryPie, a cloud data security solution for businesses. The platform allows companies to centralize and manage all their cloud-based data in a single place, ensuring that it is secure, compliant, and easily accessible. QueryPie’s solution supports various cloud platforms, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.
Qualitas Semiconductor: This semiconductor design company specializes in providing high-performance and energy-efficient IP (Intellectual Property) solutions for System-on-Chip (SoC) applications. The company was founded in 2018 by a team of industry veterans with over 20 years of experience in the semiconductor industry.
Furiosa AI: The AI startup provides a software platform that helps optimize AI workloads across a variety of hardware architectures, including CPUs, GPUs, and FPGAs, enabling developers to accelerate AI models while reducing costs and improving performance.Furiosa AI’s platform supports popular deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow and PyTorch, and can be used for a variety of applications including natural language processing, computer vision, and speech recognition. The company has raised significant funding from investors and has partnerships with major tech companies such as Intel and Toyota.
KODIT program will provide credit guarantees of up to 15 billion won ($13 million) for three years, application of a minimum guarantee rate of 0.5%, support for an additional 0.7% interest rate cut through agreement banks, and other consulting and public relations services. This support will enable selected companies to continue growing and innovating, driving forward Korea’s startup ecosystem.
KODIT’s previous support has led to a sales growth of 44% in 2022 compared to 2021 and a 25.5% employment growth for innovative icon companies. The program aims to provide support to help innovative startups overcome challenges and become unicorns. With this move, the KCGF has once again showcased its commitment to promoting the growth and development of Korea’s startup ecosystem, providing crucial support to innovative startups when they need it the most.
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