KAIST teams up with Israel's Yozma Group to breed startups

[Photo provided by KAIST]

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has joined hands with Israeli venture capital Yozma Group to help campus-based startups to grow and build success, the country’s top science and technology university said on Monday.

The two signed a memorandum of understanding on joint technology development and talent attraction last weekend and the signing ceremony was held at KAIST in Daejeon in presence of KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung, Yozma Group Chairman Yigal Erlich and Yozma Group Asia Head Lee Won-jae.

With the MOU, Yozma Group will make investments and implement acceleration programs for startups established by KAIST professors, graduates or students, as well as those invested by the university.

KAIST is also in talks to locate Yozma Group’s branch office inside the university campus to ensure seamless collaboration.

Yozma Group plans to discover and support Korean startups that need technology from The Weizmann Institute of Science with its local license for technology development from the leading multidisciplinary basic research institution.

Yozma Group already launched a $70 million fund to help grow companies in Korea and Israel. Yozma Group will use the fund in addition to its global accelerating know-how and a network of 400 plus R&D centers across Israel to help promising KAIST startups to go overseas.

Yozma Group started as Yozma Fund created in conjunction with the Israeli government in 1993 to support the globalization of Israeli start-ups and to foster the growth of Israel's venture capital industry. The Fund which was privatized in 1998 has supported 97 Israeli tech ventures join the Nasdaq market.

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