More Than 90,000 Apply for Second Round of Startup for Everyone Project... 30,000 More Than First Round

Second-Chance Applicants Account for 20% of Total Participants

The number of applicants for the second round of the Startup for Everyone project has surpassed 90,000.

No Yongseok, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, is delivering a greeting at the "Startup Festival for Everyone in Chungnam, NEXT STAGE" held on the 15th at the Yu Gwansun Gymnasium in Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do. Ministry of SMEs and Startups

According to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, a total of 92,838 people applied for the second round of the Startup for Everyone project from August 20 to September 17, 2026. Out of these, 80,764 applied for the General and Technology Leagues, and 12,074 applied for the Local League.

The second recruitment period was 29 days, which is roughly half the duration of the first round's 51-day period. Nonetheless, the number of applicants increased by 30,000 compared to the first round (62,944 applicants). Among all applicants, 19,111 (20.6%) were individuals making a second attempt.

This round saw a higher proportion of participants from outside the Seoul metropolitan area. The share of applicants from non-metropolitan regions reached 63.3%, an increase of about 10 percentage points compared to the first round's 53.4%.

The proportion of applicants aged 39 or younger was 71.8%, up from 68.0% in the first round, with teenagers (15.4%) and individuals in their twenties (36.4%) together accounting for more than half of all participants.

Cho Kyungwon, Director of Startup Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, stated, "The enthusiasm for startups has spread nationwide and across generations. Despite a short recruitment period, over 90,000 people participated—more than in the first round. We will further strengthen support so that these challenges lead to actual startups and growth, nurturing the next generation of innovative entrepreneurs."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.