Yoon eyes plan to raise more unicorns

The government will provide funds to help startups grow into unicorns, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s transition team said Tuesday.

Unicorns are privately-held startups worth at least $1 billion. In South Korea, they have long relied on foreign capital in their late-stage funding to raise their market value

“This is part of broader efforts to nurture a new ecosystem for startups, where jobs are created and economic growth is guaranteed, all without interruption,” said Ko San, one of the team members working on Yoon’s economic plan.

Ko, a former astronaut candidate and startup founder himself, said government aid would be given regardless of age and gender. He was referring to startups led by college students and women, which have struggled to attract the cash needed.

The government will introduce rules as well, like allowing startups to issue multiple voting shares and cutting taxes on stock option payments for startup employees.

Startups’ chief executive officers have long complained that they should be able to have more votes than warranted by the amount of capital represented. They have called for such protection to prevent hostile takeovers when they list their companies -- an option that could dilute the CEO’s stake.

The government, Ko added, will also prepare special aid for tech startups, like artificial intelligence companies that require lengthy research and development and massive investment because of substantial scientific and engineering challenges in commercialization.

He noted, however, that the government would merely back the private sector leading the change. State-led, nonmarket policies and practices seen under the current Moon Jae-in government have no place under Yoon, he said.

Ko said the government will stick to that principle as it carries out large-scale projects to help the government find ways to help Asia’s fourth-largest economy transition into a green and digital economy.

“We will seek the best out there, non-government experts who could advise the government on how it should go about spending money on the projects to find answers to our economic woes,” Ko said.

Also on Tuesday, Yoon’s team said the government will revise laws to reshape the local media industry, where there are almost no rival streaming media service platforms to compete with Netflix, Apple TV+ and Disney+.

“Outdated rules will be scrapped,” the team said.

By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)