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| Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Jin Ok-dong speaks during a "Welcome Day" event for its startup accelerator program, Shinhan's Future's Lab 2023, held in downtown Seoul, Friday. Courtesy of Shinhan Financial Group |
By Lee Yeon-woo
Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Jin Ok-dong vowed to support local startups at a "Welcome Day" event for its startup accelerator program held in Seoul, Friday.
"Shinhan Finance Group was also a startup when it first started with three branches 40 years ago," Jin said. "The group will make efforts to create an innovative ecosystem for startups in Shinhan Future's Lab to grow."
Shinhan Future's Lab is the group's startup accelerator program. Since its launch in 2015, it has cultivated around 370 startups and invested 73.6 billion won ($56.1 million), both directly and indirectly. The program has produced 20 pre-unicorn companies.
Employees from Shinhan Financial Group and 35 officials from nine startups chosen for the program attended the welcome event. The group will offer the selected startups various benefits, such as developing potential business activities with the group's affiliates, offering residencies and supporting initial public offerings.
"Shinhan Future's Lab is supporting domestic startups' forays into overseas markets, as it entered Japan in November followed by Vietnam and Indonesia," Jin said.
"Shinhan Financial will act as a bridge between local startups and Japanese venture markets to connect and expand, in order to create growth in both countries to lead the industries of the future," he added.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK also visited the event to observe Shinhan Financial's accelerator program and had a face-to-face talk with Jin, according to the group.
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