Recruitment for the 2nd Round of 'Startup for Everyone' Begins on the 20th… 10,000 to be Selected, 80% Allocated to Prospective Entrepreneurs
Date
2026년 8월 15일
Classification
- Policy/Regulation
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups began recruiting for the second round of the 'Startup for All' program on August 20, with a selection quota of 10,000—double the 5,000 selected in the first round. New criteria have been established to allocate at least 80% of the selected participants to prospective entrepreneurs and at least 70% to entrepreneurs from non-metropolitan areas. Eligibility has also been expanded from re-entrepreneurs within three years of starting a business to those within seven years of starting one.
The second round of recruitment for 'Startup for All,' which was postponed due to a personal information leak, begins on August 20, and more than 80% of the selected spots will be allocated to prospective entrepreneurs.
New criteria established for selecting 10,000 people: 80% for prospective entrepreneurs and 70% for non-metropolitan areas
The government is launching the second phase of the "Startups for All" initiative, expanding the recruitment quota to 10,000—doubling the 5,000 recruits from the first phase. Recruitment begins on August 20, and eligibility has been broadened from existing prospective entrepreneurs and startups within three years to include startups within seven years. New criteria have also been established requiring that at least 80% of the selected participants be prospective entrepreneurs and 70% be entrepreneurs from non-metropolitan areas. The number of incubation institutions has been increased from 119 to over 170, and public institutions have been newly included.
The background to the push for the second phase lies in the previous suspension. Recruitment for the second phase of "Startup for All," which involves an investment of approximately 200 billion won in supplementary budget, had been delayed beyond the original plan following an incident in which the information of 5,000 successful candidates from the first phase was leaked. During a briefing on the 31st of last month, Noh Yong-seok, the First Vice Minister of SMEs and Startups, explained that there was high demand from the field during meetings with 17 cities and provinces to expedite the second phase, and that since the project is being conducted with a supplementary budget, it could not be delayed beyond the next year due to the budget structure.
Establishment of 4 Specialized Leagues: University, Youth, Social Venture, and Global
In the second round, specialized leagues for universities, youth, social ventures, and the global sector were newly established. The Global League provides up to 30 million won in commercialization funds to challengers from Silicon Valley, Singapore, and India. The 'University Entrepreneurship League for All,' involving over 500 local university startup clubs, along with customized on-site entrepreneurship education for elementary school students and vacation startup camp competitions for middle and high school students, will also be held concurrently.
Separately, applications for the Social Venture League are being accepted through the Korea Technology Guarantee Fund ONE Platform until 6 PM on August 19. Approximately 100 companies will be selected through document evaluation and provided with 2 million won in impact activity support funds per company, while about 40 companies selected through presentation evaluation will receive intensive mentoring worth 5 million won per company. Finally, about 10 companies will be selected during the '2026 Venture Week' in December to receive up to 150 million won in commercialization funds.
The evaluation system was also revamped. The evaluation was enhanced by introducing a multi-faceted evaluation by three mentors and an AI generation and plagiarism verification model, and the quality was improved by carefully selecting the pool of AI solutions from 283 companies to around 50.
Challenge history issued as 'Challenge Experience Certificate'... Reflects bonus points for startup support, loans, and R&D
A notable feature of this reorganization is that records remain even for those who were not selected. A Certificate of Challenge Experience is issued detailing their history of participation, which can be utilized for preferential bonus points in startup support, loans, and R&D applications. Approximately 57,000 individuals who were eliminated in the first round of recruitment will receive re-challenge mentoring and preferential treatment in the second round.
The first phase of the process is also being conducted in parallel. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to select 1,100 out of the 5,000 finalists who passed the first round of the "Startup for All" program in August, conduct the second round of regional auditions starting in October, and then select 200 finalists to determine the final winner through a nationwide public audition in December. Based on the first phase, support was provided in stages, ranging from 2 million won in startup activity funds to over 1 billion won in funding and global expansion packages for the final selected participants. However, the staged support amounts and detailed schedule for the second phase must be confirmed through the recruitment announcement.
The second round of "Startups for All" has doubled its scale and explicitly fixed the selection composition to focus on prospective entrepreneurs and those from non-metropolitan areas. This effectively expands the official channels available at the idea stage. Furthermore, given that even if rejected, the history of participation remains as a certificate and is used as bonus points in future evaluations for startup support, loans, and R&D, this recruitment can be viewed as a structure designed to provide tangible benefits simply by participating, regardless of selection.
#StartupsForEveryone #ProspectiveEntrepreneurs #MinistryOfSMEsAndStartups #StartupSupportProgram #Restartup
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