Global Startup Commercialization Support
Supports foreign-founded startups entering Korea with market localization and expansion assistance.
⚠This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.
The Global Startup Commercialization Support Program is an annual initiative of South Korea's Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) that funds foreign-founded startups seeking to establish and scale operations in the Korean market. The 2026 cycle, announced by MSS and open from March 18 to April 10, 2026, offered approximately 15 company slots — up from 10 in the 2025 cycle. The program is conducted entirely in English, from application through final selection evaluation, making it one of the few MSS instruments fully accessible to non-Korean-speaking founders. The historical competition ratio is approximately 13:1.
Award amounts range from an average of KRW 50 million to a maximum of KRW 80 million per company. Eligible expenditures include product development, business model localization for the Korean market, intellectual property acquisition, and marketing activities. The program is sector-agnostic; any foreign-founded startup with demonstrated technological capability may apply. Selected companies gain access to the Global Startup Center (GSC) ecosystem, which provides investment matchmaking, corporate partnership introductions, office space, and administrative assistance including visa and company establishment support. Applications are submitted through the startup-korea.com platform. A prior alumni example is Polymerize (Singapore), which entered Korea in September 2024 and created 11 local jobs after participating.
The 2026 deadline of April 10, 2026 has passed, and the next cycle is anticipated annually. Cho Kyung-won, MSS Director General for Startup Policy, described the program as designed to help foreign entrepreneurs with strong technological capabilities establish businesses in Korea and participate in its startup ecosystem. Foreign founders targeting Korean market entry should track the annual MSS announcement board (mss.go.kr) and the K-Startup portal for the 2027 call, and apply early given the narrow 15-slot capacity.
Korean market entry by foreign-founded startups, funding product development, business-model localization, IP acquisition, and marketing to establish operations in Korea.
Sign up free to see the funding breakdown
Sign up free to see the industries in scope
Sign up free to see the full eligibility
Sign up free to see how to apply
Sign up free to see what you submit
Sign up free to see the timeline
Sign up free to see where teams trip up