[StartupRecipe] From Platforms to AI and Advanced Materials: How Korea’s Innovation Icon Program Has Evolved

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From Platforms to AI and Advanced Materials: How Korea’s Innovation Icon Program Has Evolved

As global AI competition intensifies, identifying high-potential startups and helping them scale has become a growing national priority. The Innovation Icon program of the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT), which provides selected companies with up to KRW 20 billion in guarantees over three years, is one example of this approach.

KODIT recently announced four companies in the program’s 16th cohort, and the selections point to a change in the fields viewed as having strong growth potential. Early cohorts were dominated by platform and consumer service companies. AI and semiconductors then emerged as key sectors, while more recent cohorts have expanded into industrial AI, manufacturing technology, materials and components. Comparing cohorts shows how the business areas recognized for growth potential have changed over time.

According to KODIT, 79 companies were selected as Innovation Icons from the first through the 15th cohorts. Their combined guarantee limit stands at about KRW 1.13 trillion. Seventeen of the companies have listed on the KOSDAQ market, while six have grown into unicorns.

The early cohorts, up to the seventh, included Bucketplace, the operator of the home-interior platform Today’s House (Ohou); Uisikju Company, the operator of the laundry service Laundrygo; fashion platform Brandi; and online class platform Class101. It was a period when platform businesses connecting consumers and services through mobile and online channels were growing rapidly. Bucketplace later became a unicorn and is now the program’s best-known success story.

From around the ninth cohort, AI and semiconductor companies began to appear on the list. Nota, Checker, Qualitas Semiconductor and FuriosaAI were selected, followed by Rebellions and Upstage. The shift coincided with a period when AI software and AI chips were emerging as major growth fields in Korea.

From the 10th cohort onward, AI moved beyond specific services and into industrial settings such as manufacturing, logistics, security and healthcare. Companies working in industrial AI, digital twins, 3D printing and semiconductor components joined the roster, broadening attention to technologies that use AI to improve industrial productivity and efficiency. Of these, Nota and Neosapience have gone public, while FuriosaAI, Rebellions and Upstage have reached unicorn status.

The 14th and 15th cohorts were more diverse still, spanning generative AI and AI semiconductors as well as autonomous driving, AR optics and machine vision. Companies combining software and hardware for applications in real industries appeared side by side. Wrtn Technologies, a generative AI company, also became a unicorn.

The 16th cohort includes a company developing AI logistics alongside companies working on eco-friendly filters, functional cosmetics and materials, advanced metals and special alloys. The latest selections show that support has expanded beyond companies developing AI directly to technology companies working on manufacturing, materials and components that underpin industrial competitiveness.

The program, which began with platforms and consumer services, now covers AI semiconductors, generative AI and industrial AI, as well as advanced materials and eco-friendly manufacturing. The changes in selected companies from cohort to cohort show how the technologies and industries viewed as having strong growth potential in Korea have evolved. With a number of selected companies already reaching unicorn status or going public, the Innovation Icon program also provides a snapshot of the sectors that have emerged as important parts of Korea’s startup ecosystem.

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