Korea's 예비창업패키지 pays up to KRW 80 million — to founders who have not yet registered a business

Every Korean funding ladder starts before the company exists. The first public money most Korean founders touch is 예비창업패키지, administered by 창업진흥원 (KISED) under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.

Who qualifies — the line is registration

KISED's page defines the eligible founder precisely: a person who, as of the announcement date, has registered neither a business (개인 or 법인) nor completed incorporation registration (법인 설립등기).

The page's own description aims the programme more narrowly than its name suggests: it targets 예비창업자 holding technology-startup ideas — the page's wording is 혁신적인 기술창업 아이디어 — through the commercialisation preparation stage, toward settling into the startup market.

What that description does not do is add eligibility conditions. Nothing printed there conditions eligibility on nationality, age or academic background — those, where they exist, live in the individual 공고.

The registration definition rewards moving in a specific order: apply first, register later. Founders who formalise early to look serious fail it.

What it pays

The commercialisation fund (사업화자금) is capped at KRW 80 million per selected team. It covers prototype production, marketing, and intellectual-property filing and registration.

The money is not front-loaded. KISED disburses in stages through an interim evaluation (중간평가), with amounts differentiated per stage — continuing support depends on passing it.

Alongside the cash, the programme supplies business-model refinement, MVP production support, startup education, mentoring and networking through the administering institution.

2026 figures, as printed by KISED
Total budget	KRW 49.125 billion (491.25억원)
Selections	about 300 (300명 내외)
Funding ceiling per team	KRW 80 million (0.8억원)

The budget covers more than the per-team fund — it also carries the programmes and administration. KISED prints the two scales together; deriving a per-team average from them would be arithmetic, not a fact.

The 2026 cycle, as printed

KISED's page lays the year out in four steps, each marked 예정 (planned): the 공고 in late February, applications in February to March, selection and agreement in April to May, and funding from June.

Planned is the operative word. The page is an annual overview, and each step binds only when the actual announcement says so.

Applying

Applications go online through the K-Startup portal (k-startup.go.kr). The submission is a business plan (사업계획서) plus supporting documents.

The structure is worth noticing: the business plan is the evaluation input, and the fund then pays for executing that same plan — prototype, marketing, IP. The document and the funded work are the same thing at two stages.

If you are selected

Funding arrives in stages from June in the printed plan, gated by the interim evaluation. The programme runs through the administering institution, which is where the mentoring and MVP support happen.

The rung above this one — 초기창업패키지, for companies that have registered and started trading — is where the ladder continues. That boundary is its own subject.