The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 23rd that it is publicly recruiting investment management firms to operate a 2026 sub-fund until May 6, aiming to strengthen the competitiveness of South Korea’s cybersecurity industry.
Since establishing the nation’s first cybersecurity fund in 2024, the ministry has been operating three sub-funds with 30 billion won in government budget contributions. This year, it plans to create one additional sub-fund worth a combined 16 billion won from public and private sources, including 8 billion won in government contributions, to actively support the growth of promising domestic companies with innovative security technologies.
Primary investment targets are innovative companies possessing cybersecurity technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and zero trust. Investments can also be made in cybersecurity firms pursuing mergers and acquisitions (M&A) or those that have established local subsidiaries or joint ventures overseas.
To encourage swift investment execution after fund formation, the ministry plans to award extra points during selection to management firms that propose investing at least 20% of the fund’s minimum committed capital within six months of formation. The cybersecurity fund invested a cumulative 12.7 billion won in eight companies last year.
Lim Jeong-gyu, Director of Information Security and Network Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, “As cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated with the spread of AI technology, global security companies are rapidly scaling up and consolidating across the industry through the adoption of AI-based security technologies and M&A.” He added, “For domestic cybersecurity companies to secure global competitiveness, it is crucial that they differentiate themselves based on innovative security technologies and expand their scale through rapid market entry and active M&A.”
