Inhwa Shin

Korea Technology Finance Corporation

The Korean Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC) is a special-purpose non-profit financial institution established in 1989 to help spur economic growth in South Korea through the provision of financial support to new technology businesses with little or no collateral to provide. This is primarily done in the form of credit guarantees based on technology appraisals. KOTEC has been instrumental in providing KRW 280tn in technology guarantees to date. KOTEC's operations are heavily focused on two pillars: the provision of technological credit guarantees and the technology appraisal that underpins their decision-making. However, KOTEC has grown from a credit guarantee institution into a comprehensive innovation financing agency. Its major operations now include: Technology guarantee: Guarantees for loans that new technology-based SMEs borrow from financial institutions to start their businesses and develop and/or commercialise their technology. Technology appraisal: Appraises future values of the technology that a company retains, such as technological competency, marketability and business values, and uses the appraisal results for various purposes in technology financing support. The technology appraisal produces a rating of the risk and potential of the technology as well as a monetary valuation of the market potential of the technology in question. Guarantee-linked investment: Provides direct equity investment in conjunction with a credit guarantee programme for early-stage technology firms with recognised business competency. More than €30m was invested in 2015.