SK said on Wednesday it will launch Impact Booster, a scale-up support programme for social ventures at the growth stage. A social venture is a startup that pursues profits while providing solutions to social problems. The company said the programme was designed to support social ventures that, because of their mission to address social issues, do not receive sufficient market recognition and face structural limits in securing growth opportunities.

The programme targets social ventures that have moved beyond early-stage investment (Pre-A) and entered Series A or B rounds, before an IPO. SK plans to select about 10 companies each year for intensive support. Selected companies will get business cooperation opportunities with key affiliates including SK Hynix, SK Innovation and SK Telecom. Business support funding is up to 70 million won.

Funding will be provided in phases. SK will first provide 10 million won that companies can use for growth, then offer additional funding of up to 60 million won for proof-of-concept projects if collaboration tasks are developed with SK affiliates. SK will vary support by company type. It will provide product consulting and help expand sales channels for B2C companies, and support B2B companies in securing references through business demonstrations.

Impact Booster was designed to integrate support across the full process by linking existing social venture development programmes, SK Pro Bono and SE Consultant. It also strengthened its support system through cooperation with external expert institutions, including working with the Seoul Business Agency (SBA) to support funding for demonstration projects and with the nonprofit Onyul to provide free legal advice. It will also support follow-on fundraising for selected companies.

The programme is overseen by Ji Dong-seop (지동섭), SV committee chair of the SK Supex Council, who said the number of social ventures in South Korea has increased, but many are relatively undervalued as they pursue missions that also require solving social problems, and often fail to gain growth opportunities. He said he would become a sponsor that provides integrated development support so that no company fails to make a leap because it misses opportunities at the growth stage.

Applications must be submitted by midnight on June 3. SK will announce final selections in early July after document screening and interviews. Applications can be made on the official Impact Booster website or on SK Telecom's Sketch platform.

For reference, SK has operated various programmes to build a social venture ecosystem, including Impact MBA to foster outstanding social entrepreneurs, Impact Unicorn to develop promising social ventures into unicorns with corporate values of at least 100 billion won, and SOVAC (Social Value Connect) to help connect and support cooperation among companies working to solve social problems.