Plaque ceremony marks Innovation Icon designation

Kang Seung-jun (right), chairman of Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, watches a demonstration of Unicorn's next-generation wireless interconnect technology. [Korea Credit Guarantee Fund]
Kang Seung-jun (right), chairman of Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, watches a demonstration of Unicorn's next-generation wireless interconnect technology. [Korea Credit Guarantee Fund]

Kang Seung-jun, chairman of Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, visited Unicorn, a fabless semiconductor design company based in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, to discuss ways to support innovative startups in scaling up.

Kang attended a plaque ceremony Sunday at Unicorn's headquarters marking the company's designation as an Innovation Icon. He observed a demonstration of Unicorn's next-generation wireless interconnect technology and heard firsthand about the challenges the company faces in commercializing its innovations.

Unicorn is a fabless chipmaker that develops 60GHz-based wireless transceiver semiconductor chips (UC60) designed to replace complex wired cables and connectors in ultra-short-range connections inside and outside electronic devices. The company's technological capabilities have earned it 33.6 billion won ($21.8 million) in cumulative investment, and it won an innovation award at CES 2026, the world's largest consumer electronics trade show.

Since its founding in May 2022, Unicorn has progressed through successive stages of Korea Credit Guarantee Fund's startup financing programs — starting with the "New Born Penguin" designation, then "First Penguin" and "Pre-ICON," before reaching the Innovation Icon tier in April.

"We are deeply grateful for Korea Credit Guarantee Fund's active financial support, which came exactly when our company needed it most," said Kim Young-dong, chief executive of Unicorn. "We will grow into a global company worthy of the Innovation Icon name."

"I sincerely congratulate Unicorn, which has walked alongside Korea Credit Guarantee Fund since its earliest days, on being named an Innovation Icon," Kang said. "We will continue to actively support innovative startups so they can leap forward at every stage of their growth — from the initial founding phase all the way through to scale-up."

Innovation Icon is Korea Credit Guarantee Fund's scale-up program that intensively nurtures innovative startups with high potential to grow into future unicorn companies. Selected companies receive a range of financial and non-financial services, including credit guarantee support of up to 20 billion won over three years, guarantee-linked investment, overseas expansion support, and technology and patent advisory services with tailored consulting.

Korea Credit Guarantee Fund selected six companies as its 15th cohort of Innovation Icon firms in April. Through the 14th cohort, it had provided a cumulative total of 73 companies with credit guarantee limits totaling 994.7 billion won.


ehkim@heraldcorp.com