IBK Industrial Bank of Korea selects five startups and will incubate them for 12 weeks in South Korea and overseas, supporting their entry into the U.S. market.

IBK Changgong, the bank’s startup incubation platform, held a kickoff day for the fourth Silicon Valley accelerating programme at the COEX Startup Branch in Seoul on Wednesday and began the incubation programme, it said.

The Silicon Valley accelerating programme is run jointly by the bank and global venture capital firm 500 Global to support overseas expansion by South Korean startups.

In the fourth cohort, Softionics, Tunable Biosystems, Cheongbang Korea, Buyer Korea and Pojikorea were selected as the final five companies.

The bank will provide these companies with investment funding and a 12-week incubation programme.

It will first conduct four weeks of pre-training in South Korea, including corporate diagnostics and mentoring. It will then support entry into the U.S. market through an eight-week programme at the IBK Changgong Silicon Valley Center in the United States, including investor presentations, meetings with partner firms and networking with institutions.

Lee Geon-hong (이건홍), head of the Innovation Finance Group at IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, said he hoped the programme would strengthen the selected companies’ global capabilities and serve as a chance to enter the U.S. market.