Seoul expands hunt for global unicorns with high-stakes startup prize

A promotional poster for the 2026 Seoul Unicorn Challenge / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government

Korea’s capital is ramping up efforts to position itself as a premier global tech hub, leveraging the international momentum of K-culture to lure promising foreign startups into its ecosystem.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Tuesday that it was launching the "2026 Seoul Unicorn Challenge," a prominent international startup competition aimed at discovering innovative companies and embedding them within the city’s rapidly growing venture network. The initiative reflects a broader strategy by municipal officials to upgrade Seoul's domestic startup landscape to global standards while forging cross-border corridors for local firms.

Established in 2020 as the "Korea Challenge," the competition underwent an institutional pivot in 2023 to allow non-Korean entrants. Past graduates have secured significant venture capital. The 2025 grand prize winner BeringLab, an artificial intelligence translation developer, successfully raised 3 billion won ($2.2 million) during a pre-Series A round following its victory.

This year, the city has adjusted its quotas to heavily favor international applicants by expanding the non-Korean finalist pool to four companies, up from three last year. To drive applications, Seoul is deploying field info sessions via its Global Startup Center and targeting established tech communities in the United States, India and Singapore.

Eligible firms must be less than 10 years old and focused on global scalability. The selection process starts from a preliminary document review to a semifinal pitch evaluation. Ultimately, the seven finalists will pitch live on September 10 at Dongdaemun Design Plaza during "Try Everything 2026," the city’s flagship tech festival.

Winners will split a 120 million won ($88,000) purse, with the grand prize taking home 50 million won, along with dedicated exhibition booths and cloud infrastructure consultancies through Naver Cloud. For non-Korean winners, the city said it will offer soft-landing assistance, tailored investor matchmaking and immersive cultural and business integration programs.

"In an era of intensifying competition among global startup hubs, mere event-driven exhibition support is no longer enough," Lee Su-yeon, head of Seoul’s Economic Policy Office, said. "We intend to actively expand Seoul's entrepreneurial ecosystem to a global tier."

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.