The Korea Development Bank held its “2017 KDB Startup Program Demo Day” at its headquarters in Seoul on Thursday to announce the results of its annual entrepreneur mentorship program that kicked off this summer.

Of the 486 teams that applied for the foundation’s fifth annual KDB Startup Program in July, the top seven teams received 10 weeks of entrepreneurship support training and team-specific mentoring.


The Demo Day event last week attracted a total of 600 audience members, including entrepreneurs and university students.

Based on the evaluation of a professional judging panel that consisted of investors and venture capitalists, a total of 200 million won ($178,406) in startup funding was awarded to participating teams, including a 100 million won grand prize.

KDB launched its startup program in an effort to strengthen the capabilities of young Korean entrepreneurs to develop greater opportunities for successful business endeavors.

“We will continue to find excellent startups and support their growth in order to create more youth employment and enhance the competitiveness of our Korean business environment,” said Baek In-gyun, vice chairman of KDB.