HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese start-ups will have the opportunity to attend professional training courses, receive consultations from experts and seek investment capital by attending the K-Startup Grand Challenge 2018. 

This is a project conducted and financed by the South Korean government, said Mai Duy Quang, vice president of the Việt Nam Software and IT Services Association (VINASA), at a press conference in Hà Nội on Thursday to introduce the programme. 

The K-Startup Grand Challenge aims to promote the expansion of an open entrepreneurship ecosystem in Asia, he said, adding that Vietnamese start-ups will have the chance to win US$100,000 as the first prize and receive assistance from the South Korean government. 

Youn Jung Park, director of the Korea IT Co-operation Centre, said Việt Nam had a young and proactive start-up community with many innovative ideas. 

Some 80 start-ups worldwide will receive $11,130 each to pay for their cost of living during the three-and-a-half-month training and will be able to connect with investors in South Korea, she said. 

The top 40 start-ups will be supported with more than $22,000 each for business establishment and operation in the first six months in South Korea. Interested entrepreneurs can register for the programme on https://kstartup.vinasa.org.vn by June 14.

The qualification round will be held on July 9-10 in Hà Nội and July 11-12 in HCM City. Potential start-ups will be chosen to compete in the final round in South Korea. So far, 37 start-ups have registered for the programme, including 16 Vietnamese firms. 

This is the third edition of the K-Startup Grand Challenge held on an international scale. In the first two events, 41 start-ups collected $26 million from investors. They inked 46 contracts and over 300 cooperative agreements, with over 80 start-ups cooperating with large South Korean corporations. — VNS