The 'Challenge! K-Startup 2024' competition, the largest startup competition in Korea with a total prize pool of 1.4 billion won, is about to begin in earnest. This competition will proceed in the order of preliminary league, integrated main tournament, and King of Kings tournament, and the winner of the King of Kings tournament will be awarded the Presidential Award and a prize of up to 300 million won.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 1st that it is recruiting participants for the Innovation and Startup General League, one of the preliminary leagues of 'Challenge! K-Startup 2024', until the 29th.

'Challenge! K-Startup 2024' is a pan-ministerial collaborative startup competition operated by 10 ministries including the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. This year, a sports league has been newly established to discover promising startups in the sports industry, and a total of 11 preliminary leagues will be operated.

This year, the participating ministries and preliminary leagues are: Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Innovation and Startup General League/Club League), Ministry of Education ((students), Ministry of Science and ICT (researchers), Ministry of National Defense (defense), Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (tourism, sports), Ministry of Environment (environment), Ministry of SMEs and Startups/Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (women), Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (real estate new industry), Defense Agency for Technology and Quality (defense technology), and Korean Intellectual Property Office (intellectual property).

The preliminary league will be held by each ministry, and the best teams from each league will be selected to compete in the integrated finals (210 teams) and the King of Kings tournament (30 teams), and the final 20 winners will be selected.

The total prize money is 1.4 billion won, and the winner of the King of Kings tournament can win up to 300 million won. In addition, a total of 20 awards will be given, including the Presidential Award and the Prime Minister's Award.
The 'Innovation and Startup General League' is a preliminary league hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. Among the 20 teams that won the 'Challenge! K-Startup 2023' King of Kings competition held in December last year, 7 teams came from the Innovation and Startup General League, making it the most competitive league among the 'Challenge! K-Startup' preliminary leagues.

The previous King of Kings competition winner, Tot Co., Ltd. (CEO Sang-hyung Lee), won the Innovation Award at CES 2024 for its waste battery diagnosis and dismantling technology using robot AI. The company continues to grow as a promising startup, recognized for its high level of technological prowess in the field.

Challenge! While the other 10 preliminary leagues of K-Startup 2024 are only open to prospective and 3-year-old entrepreneurs in their respective fields, the Innovation Startup General League is open to anyone regardless of field.

Each regional creative economy innovation center will recruit participating companies, and a total of 80 teams will be selected through evaluation in the regional preliminary round to advance to the comprehensive preliminary round.

The comprehensive preliminary round is hosted by the Seoul Center for Creative Economy and Innovation, and the final 40 teams that will advance to the integrated final round are selected through presentation evaluation.

In addition, each Creative Economy Innovation Center will provide continuous follow-up support, such as improving business models (BM) and strengthening investment presentation (IR) capabilities, to the teams that advance to the comprehensive preliminary and integrated final rounds, to help the participating teams achieve excellent results in the integrated final round and King of Kings competition.

(Prospective) entrepreneurs who wish to participate in the 'Challenge! K-Startup 2024' Innovation Startup General League can apply by referring to the notice posted on the K-Startup website (www.k-startup.go.kr).

Meanwhile, the 'Innovation and Entrepreneurship Club League' targeting entrepreneurship clubs will hold preliminary rounds with nine entrepreneurship-centered universities across the country to select teams that will advance to the integrated finals, and plans to recruit separately in May.