Lab-born Startups in South Korea Grow Nine Times Faster Than Regular Firms
Creatrip Team
17 days ago
South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT released the 2025 survey of laboratory-origin startups, analyzing 3,850 firms founded between 2015 and 2024 that were still active at the end of 2024. “Laboratory startups” (companies spun out from university and government research institute R&D results) are concentrated in tech-based industries, accounting for 90.8% of firms—manufacturing 40.5%, professional/scientific services 26.1%, and ICT 22.6%. Faculty-founded startups made up the largest share (46.2%), followed by technology transfer-led ventures (33.6%). High-growth firms (those with both revenue and employee growth of 20%+ over three years) represented 19.5% of lab startups with 10+ regular employees—about 9.3 times the 2.1% rate among general active firms. Average employment rose from 6.9 (2019) to 9.6 (2024) and average revenue from 400 million won to 900 million won. Cumulative investment into these firms reached 4.5272 trillion won, led by bio/medical (53%), then semiconductors/displays (9.7%) and environment/energy (6.5%). The ministry says it will continue periodic surveys to guide policy and support for the tech-startup ecosystem.
