18 Jeju Local Businesses Raise 217.93 Million Won... Downtown Commercial District Also Ranks First

【Financial News, Jeju = Reporter Jeong Yong-bok】 Eighteen local businesses in Jeju raised 217.93 million won through an online crowdfunding campaign held over a month. The Local Player Platform (LPP) commercial district in downtown Jeju City placed first in a nationwide online public vote involving four candidates.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Jeju Special Self-Governing Province said on the 6th that these results in promoting local startups and commercial districts were announced at the “1st Local Startup Festa in Jeju,” held on the 5th in downtown Jeju City.
Jeju Province partnered with Naver Happybean to run the “Jeju-roun Market” from August 28 to September 27. The initiative supported local startups in developing online sales channels by helping create product pages and providing training and consultations, as well as support for running crowdfunding campaigns.
The 18 participating businesses raised a total of 217.93 million won. Every business exceeded its individual fundraising target of 500,000 won. Kakao Family, which sells products made with Jeju-grown cacao, raised 79.85 million won, the highest amount among the participating businesses.
This was a reward-based crowdfunding campaign, in which participants receive products and other rewards. It takes the form of purchasing or backing products online.
Downtown Jeju also drew attention in the evaluation of local commercial districts. In the online vote for the “Local Commercial District People’s Choice Awards,” held by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups for about two weeks starting October 16, the downtown district centered on LPP Jeju ranked first among four candidates nationwide. The Juksan-myeon commercial district in Gimje, North Jeolla Province, came in second. Lee Byeong-gwon, Second Vice Minister of SMEs and Startups, attended the local commercial district performance-sharing event that day and presented awards to outstanding districts.

The event also explored ways to extend the growth of local startups beyond individual shops to entire neighborhood commercial districts. Mo Jong-rin, a professor at Yonsei University’s Graduate School of International Studies, presented a vision for developing Jeju-style commercial districts, focusing on “creator towns,” where local entrepreneurs gather to form new commercial districts. Commercial-district planners from Jeju, Suwon, Gongju, and other areas shared their experiences of cooperation between local brands and jointly operating commercial districts.
Funding options for small business owners were also discussed. Drawing on the case of “Aewol Dads,” participants considered the potential of using security tokens (STOs) to raise growth capital. Security tokens are digital securities issued to represent rights to assets such as real estate or business revenue.
The event was jointly hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Jeju Province and organized by the Jeju Center for Creative Economy and Innovation and the Small Enterprise and Market Service. Held over three days, from the 4th to the 6th, at Sheraton Jeju and the downtown area of Jeju City, it drew about 140 local businesses from across the country.
On the final day, the 6th, programs bringing major brands and local businesses together, consultations with overseas buyers, and presentations of export products were scheduled to continue. Jeju Province plans to provide follow-up support to help turn consultations with investors, distributors, and overseas buyers into actual deals and collaborations.


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