Day: August 17, 2023

South Korea’s finance ministry said Thursday it plans to issue yen-denominated foreign exchange stabilization bonds next month, as the country seeks to expand economic ties with Japan.

It would mark the first time for South Korea to issue yen-denominated foreign exchange bonds for Japanese institutional investors.

While the detailed amount has not been revealed, the amount is expected to reach at least 20 billion Japanese yen (US$134 million), experts said.

The foreign exchange bonds are sold to secure reserves against volatility in the currency market.

In June, South Korea and Japan also agreed to resume their currency swap, which has been stalled since 2015.

The new arrangement, worth $10 billion, will be based on the U.S. dollar, facilitating the exchange of the Korean won for Japan’s greenback reserves, and vice versa, the finance ministry said.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

U.S. tech giant Google has invested a cumulative 118 billion won (US$87.9 million) to incubate nearly 500 South Korean startups and help them go abroad, a company official said Thursday.

Google’s ChangGoo Program — launched in 2019 in cooperation with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups — is aimed at discovering potential young developers and fledgling businesses and helping them become profit-making companies through the tech firm’s information technology infrastructure and global network.

The program includes various educational workshops and conferences, mentoring activities and networking events.

Kay Shin, senior director of marketing, APAC platforms & ecosystems, said the program is an indigenous one in South Korea as Google has credited Korean developers with an ambitious spirit and outstanding capability, citing the Korean developer Sohn Ho-yeol, who won the 2023 edition of Google’s data science and technology competition, Kaggle.

“There are many successful startups from our incubation program,” she said during a press event. “We’ve funneled more than 118 billion won into the ChangGoo Program since its launch to support those young companies.”

She said Google has invited 80 potential startups annually to its program since its launch in 2019, and the number was increased to 100 for this year. Nearly 500 companies have participated in the program over the cited period.

Participants in the ChangGoo Program have seen downloads of their applications soar 140 percent and revenues 62 percent from 2019-2021. About 69 percent of them also do their business outside Korea, she added.

“Our biggest goal is to serve as a bridgehead for helping Korean developers go abroad,” the Google official said. “This year, we will join hands with Japan’s Google for Startups program and let Korean developers meet with Japanese experts before starting their businesses in the neighboring country.”

Google for Startups is the tech giant’s startup incubation program at the global level.

At the press event, the three best-performing startups from the ChangGoo program — Petpeotalk, Medility and Zackdang Company — also introduced and promoted themselves.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

U.S. tech giant Google has invested a cumulative 118 billion won (US$87.9 million) to incubate nearly 500 South Korean startups and help them go abroad, a company official said Thursday.

Google’s ChangGoo Program — launched in 2019 in cooperation with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups — is aimed at discovering potential young developers and fledgling businesses and helping them become profit-making companies through the tech firm’s information technology infrastructure and global network.

The program includes various educational workshops and conferences, mentoring activities and networking events.

Kay Shin, senior director of marketing, Asia-Pacific platforms and ecosystems, said the program is an indigenous one in South Korea as Google has credited Korean developers with an ambitious spirit and outstanding capability, citing the Korean developer Sohn Ho-yeol, who won the 2023 edition of Google’s data science and technology competition, Kaggle.

“There are many successful startups from our incubation program,” she said during a press event. “We’ve funneled more than 118 billion won into the ChangGoo Program since its launch to support those young companies.”

She said Google has invited 80 potential startups annually to its program since its launch in 2019, and the number was increased to 100 for this year. Nearly 500 companies have participated in the program over the cited period.

Participants in the ChangGoo Program have seen downloads of their applications soar 140 percent and revenues 62 percent from 2019-2021. About 69 percent of them also do their business outside Korea, she added.

“Our biggest goal is to serve as a bridgehead for helping Korean developers go abroad,” the Google official said. “This year, we will join hands with Japan’s Google for Startups program and let Korean developers meet with Japanese experts before starting their businesses in the neighboring country.”

Google for Startups is the tech giant’s startup incubation program at the global level.

At the press event, the three best-performing startups from the ChangGoo program — Petpeotalk, Medility and Zackdang Company — also introduced and promoted themselves.

Source: Yonhap News Agency