Key takeaways:
- A $51 million expenditure has been made public by South Korea to support the growth of its metaverse sector.
- Just one month prior, the nation contributed $185 million to initiatives related to the metaverse.
South Korea increased its focus on the potential of the metaverse as a new source of economic development while other nations’ economies became sidetracked by the commotion surrounding cryptocurrency’s ecosystem collapses and price instability.
Investments were revealed by the South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT in a fund intended to support metaverse initiatives there. The South Korean government reportedly contributed 24 billion Korean won ($18.1 million) to the establishment of a fund for metaverse growth totaling more than 40 billion Korean won ($30.2 million).
South Korea will promote mergers and acquisitions among different metaverse ecosystem companies with the help of the Metaverse Fund. The government justified its investment in the fund by pointing to the growing interest of big tech firms in the metaverse.
Creating 13 specific initiatives using the metaverse in various convergence areas, including technology, regional projects, the public sector, and industry, is the second project’s focus, unveiled a day later. $21 million has been allotted for the completion of this second undertaking.
Given the inherent investment risks, the government concurs that it is challenging for local players to raise money through private investments. In order to compete with global players, South Korea intends to actively support domestic companies engaged in the metaverse in addition to mergers and acquisitions.
The Korean institution understood that it is challenging for these types of businesses to raise money privately due to the fragility of the current global economy. Oh Yong-soo, a software policy official at the Ministry of Science and ICT, made the following comments regarding this:
“Due to the deteriorating economic situation at home and abroad, civilian venture investment has dried up. Government support is needed more than ever. It’s time to do it.”
The Korean government has made a concerted effort since last year to support the growth of its regional metaverse market by investing millions of dollars in the industry’s companies. One of the first nations to directly invest in the metaverse at the time was South Korea, whose head of the Ministry of Science and ICT, Lim Hye-sook, revealed in May that $177 million would be invested in metaverse businesses.
In addition, the ministry unveiled a program to solicit businesses to participate in its initiative to develop metaverse content in June. The program’s goal is to ignite a local movement to produce material for the metaverse as a part of the nation’s plan to lead the field.
On the other hand, South Korea keeps reining in cross-border dangers in the real world. The nation made its first independent sanctions regarding cryptocurrency thefts and cyberattacks against particular North Korean organizations and people public in February.
