Korean venture firms’ average revenue reaches $4.6mn in 2024

(Ministry of SMEs and Startups)

South Korean venture companies averaged 6.68 billion won ($4.6 million) in revenue last year and posted an average operating profit of 40 million won, marking their first year of profitability on an average basis.

According to a survey released by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups on Sunday, the combined revenue of 38,216 Korean venture companies totaled 236 trillion won last year.

The combined revenue would rank third if the venture sector were treated as a single corporate group, behind Samsung at 332 trillion won and Hyundai Motor at 280 trillion won, unchanged from the previous year.

Average revenue per venture company rose by 140 million won from a year earlier. Over the 2020–2024 period, average revenue across venture companies increased 26.2 percent and average employment grew 11.9 percent.

Venture companies also continued to invest heavily in innovation, with research and development spending accounting for 6.5 percent of the entire revenue, more than eight times the 0.8 percent level recorded by general small and medium-sized enterprises.