STARTUP FOCUS: S. Korea's annual startup festival IF 2021 opens on Nov. 6-14

[Photo provided by D.Camp]

D.Camp, a Korean startup accelerator backed by financial institutions, will host the country’s biggest street startup festival in Seoul from Nov. 6 to 14 for promising entrepreneurs to showcase business ideas and win investment for growth.

Imagine Future (IF), startup festival organized by D.Camp, will open at its Front 1 startup incubation center in Mapo, business district in central Seoul, this year for nine days until Nov. 14. Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, Korea Growth Investment Corp. and a number of public and private institutions are joining as partners for the startup festival, according to D.Camp.

Three Demo Days will open during this year’s IF festival, offering startups with opportunities to present their business ideas to investors. Campus League will have startup idea presentations by students, professors and faculties, while Regional League will be participated by startups based in cities outside of Seoul. At Global League, startups from home and abroad will compete to attract investment for their business ideas in environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) theme.

[Photo provided by D.Camp]

Campus League, to be held on Nov. 7, will have nine semi-finalists selected from 299 applicants.

Regional League will have a business idea pitch session for seven teams on Nov. 12. Global League will open on the following day.

D.Camp is a not-for-profit foundation for supporting startups. It was launched by the Banks Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs in 2013 with 945 billion won ($713 million) investment from 19 financial institutions in Korea. Since then, it has backed over 460 startups.

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