COMEUP 2025, Korea’s largest global startup festival, successfully concluded its three-day run on December 12 at COEX in Seoul. Organized by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the seventh edition brought together innovative startups, investors, and major corporations from around the world, reinforcing Korea’s emergence as a major global innovation hub.

The festival achieved significant business outcomes, facilitating more than 2,000 business matching sessions between startups and investors—a notable increase from the 1,860 matches recorded at COMEUP 2024. Building on last year’s success, which generated over $15 million (20 billion KRW) in follow-up investments, this year’s expanded international participation and enhanced matchmaking infrastructure position COMEUP 2025 to deliver even stronger investment results.

Operating under the slogan “Recode the Future,” the festival emphasized how startups reshape industries and transcend borders through technological innovation. Programming spanned three core themes—technology, global expansion, and entrepreneurship—featuring exhibitions, conferences, investor pitching, and open innovation sessions that delivered meaningful connections and tangible business opportunities.

Before the opening ceremony, Minister Sungsook Han met with Tareq Amin, CEO of HUMAIN, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned AI company. Established in May 2025 by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, HUMAIN pursues ambitious plans to position the Kingdom as a global AI leader through large-scale investments spanning next-generation data centers, AI infrastructure, sovereign large language models, and cloud services.

The meeting followed Amin’s participation as a keynote speaker. HUMAIN has actively explored collaboration with Korean AI semiconductor and deep-tech startups, including considering “HUMAIN Korea,” a local office to strengthen bilateral cooperation. Discussions centered on expanding Korean AI startup presence in Saudi Arabia and activating AI sector cooperation between the nations. Minister Han thanked HUMAIN for its active participation in the Ministry’s joint program with the Saudi government supporting Korean SME entry into Middle Eastern markets, encouraging continued collaboration.

The opening ceremony showcased Jinwoo Kim, CEO of LINER, an AI search engine company designated as a 2025 pre-unicorn. Through an interactive AI demonstration, Kim delivered a powerful message: “While AI predicts the future, startups rewrite it.”

The festival drew startups from 46 countries, with 275 companies exhibiting innovative products and services—surpassing the 260 startups from 45 countries that participated in 2024. Seven nations, including Saudi Arabia and India, operated dedicated pavilions showcasing their startup ecosystems, up from four national pavilions the previous year.

Keynote speakers addressing “Recode the Future” included HUMAIN CEO Tareq Amin and Sunghyun Park, CEO of Rebellions, Korea’s AI semiconductor company. Amin, drawing on extensive experience in AI and digital transformation, emphasized AI’s critical role in building new futures. Park, returning for his second consecutive year as keynote speaker, shared his entrepreneurial journey redefining semiconductor innovation.

Conference sessions explored current ecosystem trends: the app ecosystem’s AI-era evolution with Android and Google Play, climate-tech solutions, emerging Gen-Z founders born in 2004-2006 working with companies like Kakao and Toss, and entrepreneurial life through children’s perspectives.

Investment and partnership opportunities took center stage throughout the festival. Global VCs, CVCs, and accelerators provided Korean startups expanded access to international capital through structured programs. Thirty-five global and Korean corporations explored collaboration through the 2,000+ scheduled business matching sessions—significantly exceeding the 1,900 matches achieved in 2024. Dedicated investor and corporate booths enabled spontaneous meetings beyond pre-arranged matchmaking, creating additional networking opportunities that contributed to the festival’s investment success.

Parallel events enriched the program throughout the three days. The “Venture & Startup Achievement Awards Ceremony” recognized ecosystem contributions. The “OpenData X AI Challenge Opening Ceremony” offered AI startups real-world validation opportunities. The “K-Startup Challenge 2025 Grand Finale,” hosted by 10 government ministries, showcased Korea’s most promising emerging companies. The “2025 K-Startup Grand Challenge Demo Day” highlighted top international teams.

Minister Sungsook Han noted, “In this rapidly changing era, we support startups who rewrite the future with brilliant ideas and technologies. Innovation requires creating opportunities for diverse ecosystem stakeholders to communicate and exchange ideas. I hope COMEUP 2025 gathers wisdom and plants seeds of collaboration.”

Sangwoo Han, Chairman of the Korea Startup Forum, added in closing remarks, “COMEUP 2025 demonstrated that we’ve evolved beyond a Korean startup event into a true global meeting point where founders, investors, and governments shape future innovation together. The expanded international participation and business outcomes validate Korea’s position as a mature venture hub.”

The festival marked a milestone year, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of Korea’s venture movement and the 20th anniversary of the Fund of Funds. According to the Ministry, venture investment reached $7.1 billion (9.8 trillion KRW) in the first three quarters of 2025—a 13.1% year-over-year increase marking the first full recovery since 2022.

This recovery, combined with COMEUP 2025’s success in facilitating over 2,000 business matches and attracting 275 startups from 46 countries, signals strong momentum for Korea’s startup ecosystem heading into 2026.Major sessions and programs are available for replay on the official COMEUP YouTube channel.