South Korea’s Deep Tech Investment Hits Record High in 2024, Driven by AI and Bio Healthcare

In a landmark announcement, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups revealed that venture investment in South Korea’s top 10 deep tech sectors reached an all-time high of KRW 3.6 trillion in 2024—marking a 34% increase from the previous year and the highest level in the past five years.

This surge reflects a growing investor appetite for innovation-driven sectors, with Bio Healthcare and Artificial Intelligence (AI) leading the charge. Bio Healthcare accounted for 33% of the total deep tech investment, while AI followed closely with 26.7%, underlining their prominence in Korea’s evolving startup ecosystem.

Among the deep tech domains, AI recorded the largest year-on-year increase in investment, with KRW 415.8 billion more than in 2023. Within the AI sector, software development and supply attracted the most funding, but two other segments stood out for their explosive growth:

• AI construction, management, and related information services rose by 113.9%, and
• AI computation and processing parts/device manufacturing/design skyrocketed by an impressive 290.9%.

In total, 722 deep tech startups—75.1% of those that secured funding in 2024—had previously participated in government-backed programs, including mother fund initiatives or other startup support projects.

• 682 companies drew KRW 8.807 trillion through mother fund investments.
• 353 companies benefited from KRW 222.6 billion in funding and special guarantees via startup accelerators like TIPS, Super Gap 1000+, and the Unicorn Project.

Minister Oh Young-joo emphasized the government’s strategic commitment to fueling deep tech innovation. “The Ministry of SMEs and Startups has continuously driven investment in the deep tech field through the mother fund,” she said. “Moving forward, we will systematically implement the ‘Bioventure Innovation Ecosystem Creation Plan’ in January 2025 and the ‘AI Utilization and Diffusion Plan’ in February 2025, to strengthen policy support and foster globally competitive deep tech startups.”

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