The number of start-up companies is decreasing year by year due to the prolonged recession, the survey showed. However, as the proportion of technology-based startups using artificial intelligence (AI) and others increased, the proportion of tech startups reached an all-time high.
According to the “2025 Annual Startup Company Trend” released by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups on the 26th, the total number of startups last year was 1,135,561, down 47,344 from the previous year.
The number of start-ups reached 1.41 million in 2021, but decreased every year to 1.31 million in 2022 and 1.23 million in 2023. Last year, the number dropped to 1.13 million.
By industry, solar power generation (-29.2%) and lodging and restaurant businesses (-11.8%) decreased significantly. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups explained that KEPCO’s designation of a substation in a capacity saturated area as a system management substation that can be monitored and controlled in real time affected the decline in start-ups.
The accommodation and restaurant industry could not avoid the effects of the economic downturn in the restaurant industry and intensifying competition in the cafe market. Both Korean restaurants (-12%) and coffee shops (-17.9%) decreased by double digits. Due to the sluggish construction economy, the start-up of the real estate rental business also decreased by 9% year-on-year.
As the number of information technology services using artificial intelligence (AI) increased, the number of technology-based start-ups reached 221,063 last year. It is an increase of 2.9% (6146) compared to the previous year, and the proportion of all start-up companies also rose to 19.5%. It is the highest ever since statistics were compiled.
Meanwhile, on the same day, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups also announced a plan to operate a policy to support re-challenge, which recognizes the failure of start-ups as an experience to encourage start-ups. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Korea Youth Entrepreneurship Foundation, and the Small and Medium Venture Business Promotion Agency plan to hold a “failure concert” to spread re-challenge cases through the re-challenge cheering headquarters and provide 115 billion won to 750 companies in the re-startup stage through loan projects.
[Reporter Lee Yoojin]