Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo of KB Financial Group, L, and President Lee Dong-choon of the Korea Growth Financial, R, shakes hands after signing a cooperative agreement for growth of an independent social financial ecological structure on June 4 at KB Financial Group’s head office in Yeouido, Seoul.

KB Financial Group will provide full support to those who want to establish startups fueled by their passion and dreams. The financial group says it will launch the “Dream’s Coming Project” as a social service program.
The project aims to create high-quality jobs, build an ecological structure for reform startups and expand its social responsibility.
The group has set aside 29 trillion won to invest in startups over the next five years to help them from the very beginning and throughout their growth under a wholesome financial package.
Anyone interested in setting up a new business is invited to visit the KB Soho Startup Support Center for a free consultation and apply for loans with low interest rates. Startups deemed to have very good potential for growth can get investments from the KB CVC (Corporate Venture Capital).
The financial group is set to expand its SOHO Startup Support Center to five metropolitan cities around the country in the second half from five major branches in Seoul, including Gwanghwamun, Seocho, and Sadang branches.
Those SOHO branches already provided over 1,000 cases of consultations on startups, including those related to the locations for those startups, the procedures for setting up startups, fund management, tax payment, the procedures for getting the licenses from the government, among others.
The group set up the Startup Academy jointly with Seoul Credit Guarantee Foundation to help small businessmen, those ready to start businesses, and those about to change their businesses and those who are having trouble running their businesses. The Startup Academy has received good responses.
The group is about to launch the KB Youth Hope Dream Easy Loan from the outlet of KB Bank in the middle of this month. It will draw capital from a 200 billion won fund. A maximum of 300 million won in loans will be provided to businessmen under 40 years of age who have been running their own business for over 7 years and who can bring a letter of guarantee from a financial guarantee firm. An interest rate of 0.5 percent per year for the first year of operation will be charged, and 1.5 percent per annum for the next two to three years.
Furthermore, the group will set up a 50 billion won in the CVC fund exclusively for reforming startups and cooperative firms, with an open innovation style to be provided in the next five years. One-hundred billion won in funds will be provided to firms related to the 4th Industrial Revolution (AI, RPA and Big Data).
A corporate VC investment is defined by two characteristics: its objective and the degree to which the operations of the investing company and the start-up are linked. Although companies typically have a range of objectives for their VC investments, this type of funding usually advances one of two fundamental goals. Some investments are strategic: They are made primarily to increase the sales and profits of the corporation’s own businesses.
A company making a strategic investment seeks to identify and exploit synergies between itself and a new venture. For example, Lucent Venture Partners, which invests the telecommunications equipment maker’s funds in external companies, makes investments in start-ups that are focused on infrastructure or services for voice or data networks. Many of these companies have formal alliances with Lucent to help sell Lucent’s equipment alongside their own offerings. While Lucent would clearly like to make money on its investments in these start-ups, it is willing to accept low returns if its own businesses perform better as a result of the investments.

A scene from the KB Good Job Expo held recently at Coex, Seoul. (Photos: KB FG)