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Busan to Cooperate with Startup Genome CEO to Strengthen Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that on the morning of July 1, it had agreed to mutual cooperation with JF Gauthier, CEO of global startup ecosystem evaluator “Startup Genome,” who visited City Hall to strengthen Busan’s competitiveness in the global startup city rankings.

Startup Genome is a leading global startup city ranking institution that publishes an annual report on startup ecosystem rankings. In 2024, Busan entered the top 20 for Asian startup ecosystems for the first time.

Last month, Busan was ranked in the 80s in Startup Genome’s “Top 100 Emerging Ecosystems” report and has set a goal of reaching the top 30 in the global startup city rankings within the next three years.

Startup Genome’s global startup ecosystem rankings serve as critical investment indicators for global venture capital (VC) firms and accelerators (ACs). Cooperation with Startup Genome is expected to further accelerate the globalization of Busan’s startup ecosystem.

After meeting with Mayor Park Heong-joon, the CEO of Startup Genome held a three-hour discussion with the city’s Deputy Mayor for Administrative Affairs on ways to enhance Busan’s global startup ecosystem competitiveness.

During the meeting, CEO Gauthier noted that while achieving a top-30 global ranking within the next three years is a challenging goal, his visit to Busan revealed that the city’s dramatic changes in its startup ecosystem over the past three years have not been fully reflected in the current evaluations. He expressed confidence that the goal is achievable if cooperation progresses successfully.

He also explained the five evaluation criteria that comprise Startup Genome’s 10-point scale for startup ecosystem rankings: ▲Performance ▲Funding ▲Talent & Experience ▲Market Reach ▲Knowledge. He proposed potential collaborative measures to improve Busan’s scores in each category.

In response, the City presented recent dramatic changes in Busan’s startup ecosystem, including the establishment of the Busan Startup Investment Agency (2025), the creation of a KRW 300 billion Future Growth Venture Fund (2024) and a KRW 200 billion Regional Era Venture Fund (2025), and the expansion of startup infrastructure such as the Global Startup Hub Busan and the Green Startup Town. The City requested Startup Genome's cooperation in ensuring these developments are reflected in future evaluations.

Additionally, the City discussed participating in Startup Genome’s “Hypergrowth Program,” a scale-up program designed for growth-stage startups.

During this discussion, Startup Genome provided insights on what types of companies would be suitable for the Hypergrowth Program, and both sides agreed to continue discussions through future video conferences.

Mayor Park Heong-joon stated, “Following our agreement with global startup accelerator Plug and Play (PNP) to establish a center in Busan, we are seeing increasing requests for cooperation from global startup ecosystem evaluators. We will actively support local startups in connecting with these institutions as they expand internationally.”