[Provided by Gyeonggi Center for Economic Promotion]
[Provided by Gyeonggi Center for Economic Promotion]

The Gyeonggi Center for Economic Promotion held the first Invest Connect session Tuesday at Gyeonggi Startup Bridge in Pangyo, facilitating 60 investment matches between promising startups in the province and investment institutions.

Invest Connect is an official investment program that runs year-round ahead of the 2026 Gyeonggi Startup Summit (G-Summit 2026), scheduled for Oct. 14-15 at Suwon Convention Center.

The Gyeonggi Startup Summit is an international startup fair first held in 2024 by Gyeonggi Province and the center, designed to help AI and deep tech startups attract investment and expand into global markets.

The event drew 30 startups and about 60 representatives from venture capital firms, accelerators and corporate venture capital funds.

Fifteen major domestic investment institutions participated — including Hana Ventures, Mirae Asset Venture Investment and Posco Technology Investment — to explore potential investment and business cooperation.

The pre-event application drew 130 startups founded within the past seven years, or within 10 years for companies in emerging industries, reflecting strong interest with a competition ratio of roughly 4.3 to 1.

The event consisted of investor relations pitching sessions and one-on-one business meetups. Participating companies completed a preparatory IR capacity-building program before presenting their core technologies and business visions.

Investment firms then held four 30-minute consultations each with pre-screened companies, resulting in 60 investment matches. Some companies received on-site proposals for follow-up meetings and investment reviews, with business cooperation discussions continuing beyond the event.

Lee Jeong-wan, chief executive of Starkium, which develops a generative AI-powered architectural design automation service, said the event was "a meaningful opportunity to discuss our business direction with investors and confirm the potential for investment and business cooperation."

Companies that participated will receive preferential access to exhibition booths at the main G-Summit 2026 in October, priority support for business matching with domestic and international investors and large and mid-sized companies, and an advantage in the selection process for outstanding company awards.

Kim Hyeon-gon, head of the Gyeonggi Center for Economic Promotion, said the Gyeonggi Startup Summit is "Gyeonggi Province's flagship international startup platform where AI and deep tech startups meet investors and global markets," adding that the center would "further strengthen investment linkages, open innovation and global networks starting with Invest Connect to actively support the growth of promising startups."


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