Colorado-based global startup accelerator Techstars is launching the first accelerator program in South Korea with 10 selected startups, the company said on August 4.

Techstars Korea Accelerator is scheduled to kick off a 13-week program on August 31 with 10 domestic and overseas early-stage startups selected earlier this year. 

“The 2020 class will have participants not only from Korea but also from all over the world,” Lee Eun-se, managing director of Techstars Korea Accelerator, said. “The fact that promising startups come to South Korea to join Techstar’s accelerator program means that the country’s startup ecosystem can deliver as great value as any startup ecosystem in the world,” Lee added.

The program, which marks Techstar’s first investment and accelerator program in South Korea, will be a hybrid program using a combination of offline and online programs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Techstars, whose portolio includes over 1,700 companies, launched its first Asian operation in Singapore in 2017 and has run programs in other Asian cities including Tel Aviv, Dubai, and Bangalore.

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)