South Korea will invest 1.5 trillion won ($1.4 billion) in helping startups this year.

It increased by 66.2 billion won on-year to record the largest amount ever, according to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.

The ministry said in a press release Monday that the budget related to startups has been on the steady increase as it is important to creating jobs and nurturing companies that specialize in contactless technology.

Fifteen ministries plan to support 1.4 trillion won for 90 projects, with the Startups Ministry being in charge of 81 percent of the budget to help 40 projects.

Seventeen municipal governments across the country will inject 81.1 billion won to aid 104 projects with the Seoul Metropolitan Government leading the pack to spend 23.7 billion won on 14 projects.

Eight new projects have been added in 2021 including the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ global company cooperation project and the Ministry of Science and ICT’s collaborative technology development for future market optimization.

In particular, 29 projects worth of 141.3 billion won will aim to raise young startup founders under the age of 40.

More detailed information about support programs can be found at the startups ministry’s website K-Startup (www.k-startup.go.kr).

By Kan Hyeong-woo (hwkan@heraldcorp.com)