Capital steps up investment promotion post-pandemic

Invest Seoul, the capital city’s foreign investment promotion agency, is hoping for a new, post-pandemic wave of investment, promising global financial institutions and businesses one-stop support.

It is resuming support for overseas investment road shows by Korean startups, which have been suspended since the Covid-19 outbreak.

Its predecessor, Invest Seoul Center (ISC), a subsidiary of the Seoul Business Agency, had 15 employees on two teams. Invest Seoul has 22 employees on three.

Invest Seoul is part of the ambitions laid out by Mayor Oh Se-hoon in his Seoul Vision 2030.

Oh considers increasing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as a core strategy to strengthen Seoul’s competitive edge as a global city. Seoul aims to attract $30 billion of FDI annually by 2030, doubling the figure for 2021.

Invest Seoul plans to launch an English chatbot service from the end of April that will operate around the clock.

A briefing Thursday called “Seoul, Your Next Financial Hub,” will be held online for around 20 companies, including asset managers, banks, venture capitals and fin-tech companies in Singapore and Hong Kong. It is co-hosted by the Financial Supervisory Service.

Foreign financial institutions already in Seoul can join the briefing by applying on the website.

Invest Seoul will also support participation in offline overseas investor briefings, which are resuming in the wake of the pandemic. In the first half of this year, the agency will select 10 promising companies in Seoul and introduce them to overseas investors at BIO 2022, the largest international convention for the biotech and health industry, and Collision 2022, a North American tech conference.

The companies will receive support for investor relations and overseas investment strategies by Invest Seoul. Recruitment will begin early next month.

“Invest Seoul will establish itself as the first counseling platform sought out by foreign companies and investors who wish to do business in Seoul, and become a business partner that closely supports the entire process [of attracting investment],” said Bae Hyun-sook, the director for new growth industry planning at the city government.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]