South Korea Targets 20 AI Unicorns and One Decacorn by 2030

South Korea’s government plans to foster 20 artificial intelligence unicorns—startups worth more than 1 trillion won ($680 million) each—and one decacorn, valued above 10 trillion won ($6.8 billion), by 2030.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced the “Beyond Unicorn Strategy for AI Startups” on the 11th at the Grand Hyatt Seoul in Yongsan District, jointly prepared with the National AI Strategy Committee. The launch formed part of DETO 2026, described by the government as the country’s largest technology forum for deep-tech startups.

The strategy rests on three pillars and 12 detailed tasks:

• Full-cycle support from startup discovery through scale-up.
• Acceleration of innovative growth.
• Promotion of global market entry.

Under the discovery stage, the government will work with universities, research institutes and private investors to identify early-stage AI startups with unicorn potential. Companies ranking in the top 20% on indicators including capital raised and hiring will receive concentrated support. Each will face performance targets for its growth stage, with follow-up assistance when those targets are met.

What does the strategy change for AI startups?

It links selection, public funding and continued assistance to performance at each growth stage. Startups reaching the final stage can receive more than 10 billion won ($6.8 million) in combined research, development and commercialization funding. The ministry says this support will connect technology validation, investment and commercialization so technical capability can generate revenue and higher corporate value.

Assistance will also reflect the characteristics of five core industries, including manufacturing and biotechnology.

Public financing will expand through several channels:

• Stage-specific funding will be available through the Next-Generation Unicorn Project and the National Growth Fund.
• An integrated validation system will connect the domestic AI supply chain, from AI chips, or specialized processors, through cloud services, large language models—systems trained on large datasets to generate language—and applications.
• Joint projects will bring together chip designers, solution developers and end users to develop and commercialize technology together.

The government also wants large companies and public agencies to help startups secure sales channels. Startup technology will be applied within large companies’ products to verify performance and lead to purchases, while an expanded “government first validation and purchase” program will make the state and public agencies first buyers of innovative AI products.

Overseas expansion will receive separate backing. Working with the Public Procurement Service, the government will offer overseas institutions technology services centered on promising Korean AI startups for validation. It will also draw on the infrastructure and technological capabilities of large companies at home and abroad to support global scale-up and market expansion.

“AI connectors”—local networks designed to link buyers with startups—will be established in major countries to connect foreign AI buyers with Korean companies.

The ministry will build a control tower with the National AI Strategy Committee to oversee policy on developing AI unicorns. A second cooperative body will bring startups, large companies and investors together to connect technology development, investment and commercialization.

After the announcement, SMEs and Startups Minister Lee So-young held an open dialogue with executives of global AI unicorns and other experts on strategies for international growth. Participants included the heads of Wrtn Technologies, U.S. AI unicorn human&, Japan’s Sakana AI and the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI.

SMEs and Startups Minister Lee So-young said: “For AI startups to grow into global unicorns, they need comprehensive support that goes beyond technology development to include commercialization through technology validation, investment and market access, and overseas expansion. Through this strategy, we will provide concentrated support so that companies in Korea can grow beyond global AI unicorns into decacorns.”

DETO 2026 runs from the 10th through the 12th, with about 3,000 participants from global AI companies, venture-capital firms and domestic and overseas startups. Its theme is “AI MAKES SENSE,” and 36 programs cover technologies including physical AI, which operates in physical environments, and agentic AI, which plans and acts toward goals.