The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS, Minister HAN Seongsook) announced that it will host Global Startup Day in Jeju in conjunction with the APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meeting (SMEMM) at the Jeju International Convention Center (ICC JEJU) for two days, from Wednesday, September 3 to Thursday, September 4, 2025.

* As one of the sectoral ministerial meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the APEC SMEMM has been held annually since 1994 to discuss issues concerning SMEs, startups, and micro enterprises within the APEC region.

This event is organized under the goal of realizing the three core agendas of the APEC Ministerial Meeting—innovative Growth, Sustainable Growth, and Inclusive Growth—at the forefront of the startup and venture scene. It integrates and connects three major programs: ▲K-Startup Challenge Kick-off, known as Korea’s largest startup competition, ▲K-Startup Grand Challenge, a program designed to attract foreign startups, and ▲Global Venture Investment Summit.

Accordingly, on Wednesday, September 3, 2025, the integrated opening ceremony of Global Startup Day in Jeju will take place, followed by the ▲K-Startup Challenge Kick-off integrated final opening ceremony and the ▲K-Startup Grand Challenge Showcase. On Thursday, September 4, 2025, the ▲Global Venture Investment Summit will be held.

At the integrated opening ceremony, the event will begin with an AI hologram ceremony under the theme of Connecting the Global Startup and Venture Ecosystem. This will be followed by an introduction to Korea’s startup and venture ecosystem and a keynote lecture by Nidhi Agrawal, co-founder of Hangul Snack and a foreign entrepreneur from India, who will share her startup story. In addition, IR pitching sessions will feature domestic and international startups participating in the K-Startup Challenge Kick-off and the K-Startup Grand Challenge.

K-Startup Challenge Kick-off has established itself as an early-stage platform for numerous innovative startups and has become a gateway for young and aspiring entrepreneurs.

Over the past six months, ten ministries—including the MSS, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism—have announced twelve preliminary leagues.

Among the 7,377 teams that participated, 225 teams, selected through fierce competition at a ratio of 33 to 1, will officially begin the startup finals with the opening ceremony on that day.

K-Startup Challenge Kick-off opening ceremony will include the Senior Startup Notes session, where former award-winning companies share their experiences, followed by a special lecture from LEE Seyoung, CEO of Wrtn Technologies Inc., a leading company in generative AI. The program will also feature an alumni networking event bringing together finalist teams and alumni companies, as well as an exhibition showcasing products from five distinguished alumni firms.

K-Startup Grand Challenge Showcase will be held at Samda Hall, bringing together 40 overseas startups selected this year, alumni companies, and domestic investors.

At the event, there will be an introduction to Korea’s inbound startup policies, IR presentations by three selected startup teams*, sharing of settlement and growth stories by alumni companies**, and a “Reverse IR Session” where domestic investment institutions explain their investment strategies to overseas startups.

*  Veritas Vietnam, NIIO Inc., Groundup.AI
**  Polymerize, Tasted Better, KFTV

The Global Venture Investment Summit, to be held on Thursday, September 4, 2025, will bring together more than 70 overseas institutions from around the world to share global economic and investment outlooks, discuss avenues for collaboration with global venture capital firms, and explore ways to expand the global venture investment network.

Through Global Startup Day in Jeju, the MSS plans to provide domestic startups with opportunities to connect with global markets and investors, offer overseas innovative companies a foothold for entering and growing in Korea, and present global investors and member economies with a vision for a sustainable and inclusive global startup ecosystem.

Minister HAN Seongsook stated, “Global Startup Day in Jeju is a starting point where startups and investors are connected and the global startup and venture ecosystem is expanded.”

She added, “Based on cooperation with APEC member economies, we will actively support Korea’s leap forward as a global startup hub”