Banks Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs
The Banks Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs(Hangul: 은행권청년창업재단) is a non-profit organization founded in 2012 by the association of twenty banks of South Korea. It is often referred to as one of the largest foundations in Korea with an asset base of approximately USD 460M. It aims to return part of contributing banks' profits to the society by helping address worsening youth unemployment through promoting entrepreneurship. The foundation provides various tools and support for startups in both financial and non-financial ways.
History
On 30 May 2012, Korea Federation of Banks established Banks Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs. On 9 July 2012, the foundation made its first direct investment on EST (Energy Solution Technology) with the commitment of USD 280K. Initially, the foundation provided only financial support (loan guarantee and investment), but later decided to take a more holistic approach, including building startup ecosystem and providing global connections. For this, the foundation brought seven Korean startups to SXSW to showcase their products and Service, under the name of "Geeks from Gangnam" between 8–12 March 2013. On 27, March, 2013, The foundation launched a startup hub D.CAMP near Seolleung. On 28 June 2013, inaugural D.Day event took place, with approximately 200 participants attending. On 1 June 2013, D.CAMP initiated D.Jump program, in collaboration with Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Financial Support
Direct Investment
Since its launch in May 2012, the foundation have committed a total of USD 5M in 25 companies as direct investments. The average amount of money invested per company is USD 200K, and its beneficiaries are from diverse field of industry, ranging from optic technology to animation. To fund early stage companies, the foundation partnered with Google Korea, SK Planet and KStartup, to provide seed fundings of USD 20K on the companies accelerated by KStartup, matching the same amount with the investment partner SK Planet. As of 21 September 2013, there are 9 companies invested in this category. The portfolio includes Incujector, Korbit, Malang Studio, Playmobs, Linkyt, Ahiku, Jellycoaster, Greysox, and I&Combine.
Investment on Growth Ladder Fund
The foundation also invests US$320 million in Growth Ladder Fund, a government-driven, US$1.8 billion-sized fund of funds for successfully bridging financial dips that companies go through in its life cycle, to foster a virtuous circle of entry, growth, exit and re-entry in Korean startup ecosystem. It is part of Park Geun-hye administration's initiative outline for their master plan to transform the Korean economy into a creative economy. As one of the major LP, the foundation aims to boost access to the equity capital market by venture companies, leading to the creation of an ecosystem without such shortfall.
Fund of Funds
To support ventures and startups in less invested sectors, the foundation invests approximately USD 46M in four different funds that specializes in early stage ventures, intellectual property, culture&content and new technology, respectively.
D.CAMP
Established in the heart of Gangnam area in Seoul by Banks Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs on 27 March 2013, D.CAMP serves as a local startup hub for the most talented and passionate startup entrepreneurs and professionals with 30,000 square-foot big space facilitated with co-working space, lounge, dedicated offices for selected startups, lecture rooms and the event hall. Since its opening on 27 March, it now marks 1,317 core members, 2,579 general members, having hosted about 180 startup-related events in less than a half year.
Programs and events at D.CAMP
- D.Day : A monthly event where startups can showcase their product and make their debut appearance in front of expert panels and 200 audiences. Participants are expected to have a chance to meet their potential business partners or investors. Winners of the program are awarded with dedicated office space at D.CAMP for a given period of time. Stonebridge Capital, K-Cube Ventures, LG Electronics, ID Ventures, Future Stream Networks have participated as judging and feedback panel.
- D.Jump : D.CAMP's startup acceleration program partnering with Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to incubate 10 startups. Each of participating startups is paired with big corporate from designated sector to gain access to consulting opportunity and to leverage their network and marketing channels. Representing corporate from each sector include CJ Group, Daum Communications and more.
- D.Mentor : A curated, weekly lecture sessions at D.CAMP that hosts entrepreneurs and industry experts from different fields and countries. Speakers are selected upon D.CAMP members' request. Since its launch in June, the line-up of mentors includes:
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- Chan Park, Uber (company) Launcher
- Youngha Ko, Chairman, Go-Venture Forum
- Ben Levy, Partner, BootstrapLabs
- Chester Roh, CEO, 5Rocks (Former Google Product Manager)
- Phil Yoon, Investment Director, Walden International
- Young Song, CEO, Booga Ventures
- D.Party : A monthly networking party co-hosted with other organization. Each D.Party has a different themed seminar followed by a networking session. The former co-hosts includes Seoul City Government and Fast Track Asia(Seed accelerator).
- D.Trek : Organized by the foundation, D.Trek is an invite-only tour for startups, investors, and executives to learn about technology markets worldwide. Participants travel by planes, trains, and automobiles to different international startup scenes with the mission of uniting entrepreneurs and exploring cross-border opportunities. The inaugural D.Trek is scheduled between 2~7 November in Israel.
- D.Cision : A small, overnight workshop for want-to-be entrepreneurs to see if they have what it takes to be an entrepreneur. The program consists of workshops and lectures for participants to better realize what is their inner motivations and how they can make it into a concrete business solution. The first D.Cision took place on 9 August with 35 participants with Hongtak Kim, Executive Creative Director of Cheil Worldwide and Jimmy Rim, CEO of K-Cube Ventures, attending as mentors.
D.CAMP Floor Description
- 4F(Co-working Space) : A place for meeting like-minded entrepreneurs working on various projects.
- Coworking space (Capacity: 70)
- PT room (Capacity: 20)
- Balcony
- Other facilities: Cafeteria, mobile test bed, printer, 3 meeting rooms, smart table etc.
- 5F(Incubation & Seminar Space) : Free dedicated office spaces and desks for startups.
- 1 Large shared office for up to 6 companies
- 5 Individual offices for up to 7 people in each office
- 2 Seminar rooms that can be split into different sizes by movable walls (Capacity: 25-50)
- 6F(Event Hall) : A large annex hall with outdoor space overlooking Seonjeongneung, a UNESCO World Heritage Royal Tomb and sky line of Gangnam.
- Annex Hall (Capacity: 200)
- 2 Balcony
- 2 Meeting Rooms (Capacity: 10~15)
- Catering Table