Korea

The Google for Startups Accelerator: Korea program ran in 2022 and 2023. We expect to host more similar accelerator programs in the future. When that happens, we'll update the Accelerators page here.

The accelerator will run as a hybrid program. Founders selected into the accelerator will outline their startup's top technical challenges and be paired with relevant Google and industry experts to help solve those challenges. Participating startups will receive mentorship and specialized support from our global mentor network and access to Google's Cloud, AI/ML, Android, and Web experts.

In addition to mentorship and technical project support, the accelerator also includes deep dives and workshops focused on product design, business strategy, customer acquisition, and leadership development for founders.

The accelerator targets Pre-Series A to Series A technology startups headquartered in Korea. We are looking for startups leveraging technology to build their product or service, or improve operations. These startups should also be helping to solve the challenges we face today in the mobile business space using AI, ML, or data analysis in meaningful ways; or using technology to make the world more inclusive for the elderly or people with disabilities.

Startups should be past the "idea stage," with customer validation and market traction with their product/service.

The startup’s founding team and key team members should also demonstrate that they have the technical skills, business skills, and mindset to grow and scale a company in this region.

Selected startups will receive up to US$200,000 in Google Cloud Platform credits.

*Valid for two years. Only available in Google Cloud Territories and to startups that have not received credits previously.

THIS PROGRAM IS OPEN ONLY TO STARTUP COMPANIES THAT MEET THE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA DESCRIBED BELOW.

The Google for Start-Ups Accelerator program (the “Program”) is run by Google Korea LLC whose principal place of business is at 22nd FL., Gangnam Finance Centre, 152 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul (“Google”).

To be considered for selection to the Program, all interested developers (whether an independent developer (“Individual”) or a business (“Business”) which may be represented by a representative of the Business (e.g. an employee or director) (“Representatives”), together “Developers” or “you”) must read and agree to these terms and conditions of the selection process (“Terms”). By submitting an application, you agree that these Terms will apply. Developers will not be considered for participation in the Program unless they agree to these Terms. Businesses agree that if Representatives click the checkbox in the registration form, this will constitute agreement to these Terms. The Representative accepting the Terms on behalf of Business warrants that he or she has full power and authority to do so. Participation in the Program and in this selection process is purely voluntary. Please do not apply to participate in the Program if you do not agree with these Terms and/or if you do not want your personal data processed.

1. Eligibility

1.1. To be eligible for selection to the Program, the following conditions must be satisfied throughout the duration of the Program:

1. Business must be established and have a billing address in one of the eligible territories. The eligible territory is Korea.
2. Individual must be a resident of an Eligible Territory.
3. Developer must not be: (i) resident of a US embargoed country, (ii) ordinarily resident in a US embargoed country, or (iii) otherwise prohibited by applicable export controls and sanctions programs from participating in the Program, or (iv) a wholly or partially state-owned entity or an employee of the government or of a government-controlled entity.
4. Individuals and Representatives must be at least 18 years of age or the age of consent pursuant to the laws of their country of origin (whichever is higher) at the time of making a submission.
5. You will provide your Representatives with a copy of these Terms. You will, and will ensure that your Representatives will, comply with all laws, regulations (including but not limited to local laws and regulations) and your fiduciary obligations, which are applicable to your submission, including but not limited to anti-bribery laws.
6. Developers and Representatives must not be employees, officers, or directors of Google, its subsidiaries and affiliated companies, or be the immediate family or living in the households of any such persons.

1.2. Representatives acknowledge that any Program benefits will inure to their Business and not to them individually.

1.3. All determinations of eligibility will be made at Google’s sole and absolute discretion, acting reasonably. Google reserves the right to verify eligibility and to adjudicate on any related dispute at any time. No correspondence will be entered into.

2. How to Participate

Submission

2.1. To join the selection process for the Program, you must:

1. Have a valid Google account. Representatives must have the authority to access and use the Google account on behalf of the Developer.
2. visit the Program website located at https://startup.google.com/accelerator/korea/ and follow the instructions to submit an application in the prescribed form (the “Application”) to be selected as Participant.
3. An Application is not complete unless and until you submit an online Application Form. The Application must be in English and meet the Application Requirements, as described in this Section.
4. Applications are void if they are in whole or in part illegible, incomplete, damaged, altered, counterfeit, obtained through fraud, or late. All Applications will be deemed made by the authorised account holder of the email address submitted at the time of entry, and the person submitting an Application may be required to show proof of being the authorised account holder for that email address. The “authorised account holder” is the natural person authorised by the Developer to submit an Application and assigned to an email address by an Internet service provider, online service provider, or other organisation responsible for assigning email addresses for the domain.
5. Multiple Applications can be submitted by a Developer, but only one Application per Developer may be selected.

2.2. All data/information provided through the registration process must be complete and correct. You represent that your business and operations, product and service described in the Application do not and will not (i) violate any applicable laws, (ii) infringe any third party’s proprietary rights, intellectual property rights, personal or moral rights or any other rights, including without limitation, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, privacy, publicity or your confidentiality obligations to any third party (collectively, “Intellectual Property Rights”), and (iii) violate any applicable policies of third party products or services essential for your business, operations, products and services.

2.3. Submission of entries for the Program selection process begins at 27th September 2022, 00:00 GMT+9 and ends at 31st October 2022 23:59 GMT+9 (the “Submission Period”). All entries must be submitted during the Submission Period. Any entries received after the Submission Period will automatically be disqualified.

3. Selecting the Program Participants

3.1. After the Submission Period, the submissions will be reviewed by a panel of Google evaluators, which will evaluate the entries in accordance with the criteria set out in these Terms.

3.2. Initial evaluation. The submissions will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

1. Stage of Business. Is the startup at a stage where they can best utilize and benefit from Google’s resources? Has the team already launched the product, or do they plan to launch one within 6 months? Does the team demonstrate proven traction, preferably with quantitative data such as proofs of seed or series A funding?
2. Team. Does the team demonstrate potential to make quick progress if given access to Google’s resources? Is the team complete with a CEO, a CTO and a CMO, all of whom work full time? How big is the team? Does the team demonstrate a dedication to give back to the community?
3. Business Type. Does the startup have a type of business that would most benefit from having access to Google resources and expertise? Does the team provide a unique and technology-based solution to tackle an important, high-impact issue?

Google may request Applicants to submit additional information that Google deems necessary. Unless otherwise specified in the request, Applicant must respond to the request for additional information within 2 business days.

3.3. All decisions by Google regarding Participants will be final and binding. No correspondence will be entered into. Google has sole discretion for the evaluation and selection of Shortlisted Developers and the final list of Participants. Google is not required to notify Developers who are not selected of its decision nor required to give any explanation to Developers who are not selected for any reason. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, Google may disqualify any Developer from the Program if Google reasonably determines such Developer violates these Rules.

4. Notification of Participants and Participants’ Obligations

4.1. Google will notify Participants by sending an email to the address provided in the submission on or around Dec 31 2022.

4.2. Google reserves the right in its reasonable discretion to change the dates and manner of staging the Program events. No cash equivalent of the Program benefits can be claimed. Program benefits are non-replaceable, non-transferable.

4.3. You may be required to confirm your acceptance of the Program terms and conditions through an agreement with Google and/or its affiliates (“Program Agreement”) within seven (7) days from notification, in order to participate in the Program. You may also be required to submit a declaration of eligibility and/or publicity release in order to participate in the Program.

4.4. Google is not responsible for lost, late, misdirected, mutilated, incomplete and illegible submissions, or for electronic transmission errors, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to or alterations of entry, technical malfunctions of any kind. Submissions are void if they are in whole or in part incomprehensible, incomplete, damaged, irregular, altered, counterfeit, produced in error, forged, mechanically reproduced or obtained through fraud or theft.

4.5. Google will not be liable for unsuccessful efforts to notify a Participant. If a selected Developer declines to participate, or does not respond to the notification within 5 working days or fails to comply with all Program requirements, including signing the Program Agreement, fails to abide by these Terms or is ineligible, or is otherwise not able to participate in the Program for any reason, Google may, but is not required to, select an alternative Participant from all remaining Distributors.

4.6. If you are selected as a Participant, you will be solely responsible for ensuring that you comply with applicable tax laws, and filing requirements.

5. Program Benefits

5.1. Participants will receive benefits and support from Google (“Benefits”) as described at: https://startup.google.com/accelerator/korea/. Google reserves the right to change Benefits at its discretion, from time to time, for any reason and without prior notice to Participants. No transfer, substitution or cash equivalent of Benefits is allowed. All Participants will receive Benefits for free but unless expressly included in its description, any expenses they incurs as a result of, or in relation to their participation in the Program (such as devices, internet connection,business supplies, travel and lodging (if relevant)) will be the sole responsibility of the Participant. Benefits will include mandatory sessions to be attended by all Accelerator Participants as designated by Google. Access to Benefits will commence on such date in June 2021 as specifically designated by Google.

5.2. Key dates for the Program events (“Program Events”) are as follows (all dates are in 2022 and in Korea Standard Time):

• Applications Open: Sept 27
• Applications Close: Oct 31
• Class Announcement: Dec 31
• Program Start: 2023 Feb 13
• Graduation: 2023 May 4

Google reserves the right to change the dates, venue and/or manner of conducting the Program Events, at its sole discretion.

6. Privacy

6.1. You acknowledge, hereby accept and recognise, under the laws and regulations governing data protection in your country that Google may collect, store, share and otherwise use personally identifiable information provided during registration for the Program. By entering into the Program and providing your personally identifiable information you consent that Google will use this information for the purpose of the Program only and will process any such personal information in accordance with its Privacy Policy (https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/). If you do not consent to the processing of your personally identifiable information as described here and detailed in the Privacy Policy, you will not be able to enter and participate in the Program.

6.2. Your information may also be transferred to countries outside your country of residence, including the United States, all countries included in clause 1.1(a) , as well as all other countries in the European Union and European Economic Area. Such other countries may not have privacy laws and regulations similar to those of your country of residence. By your acceptance of the provisions of paragraph 6.1 above, you accept the transfer of your identifiable information to countries outside of your country of residence.

6.3. Participants have the right to request access, review, rectification or deletion of any personal data held by Google in connection with the Program by writing to Google at the following address: Privacy Matters, c/o Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California 94043.

7. Intellectual Property Rights

7.1. As between Google and you, you retain ownership of all intellectual property rights (including moral rights) in and to any content submitted by you as part of your entry into the Program. By submitting an entry to be considered for the Program, you grant Google, its affiliates, agents and partner companies, an irrevocable, worldwide, non-exclusive and, unless otherwise agreed, royalty free licence for the maximum amount of time permitted by the applicable law in the entry to use, copy, reproduce, adapt, modify, publish, distribute, publicly perform, create a derivative work from, and publicly display your submission for any purpose connected with the Program, such as, but not limited to: (1) for the purposes of allowing Google and the evaluators to evaluate your entry for purposes of the Program and identifying Participants to the public, and (2) for the purposes of advertising and promotion, and press and media communications.

7.2. You promise that you are entitled to any intellectual property rights in your submission and that you have not copied your submission, in whole or in part, from any other existing work to which you do not have exclusive intellectual property rights. You agree to indemnify and hold Google harmless against any third party legal proceeding arising from an allegation that the submission infringes or misappropriates any third party’s rights, including intellectual property rights.

7.3. By agreeing to participate in the Program, Participant grants to Google and its affiliates a worldwide, irrevocable, sub-licensable, and non-exclusive licence to use Participant’s name, business name, brand features and website address for advertising and promotional purposes (including, without limitation, the promotion of the Program) for the full period of protection of any applicable intellectual property laws.

7.4. Participants agree to participate in any media or promotional activity regarding the Program and, in that event, will grant to Google and its affiliates, to the extent permitted under applicable law, a worldwide, irrevocable, sub-licensable, and non-exclusive licence to use Participant’s name, image and likeness for advertising and promotional purposes.

8. Right to cancel, modify or disqualify

8.1. If for any reason, the Program is not capable of running as planned (which may include tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, printing errors, or any other causes which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of the Program), Google may, at its sole discretion, cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Program.

8.2. Google may, acting reasonably: (a) disqualify any Developer who tampers with the submission process or any other part of the Program process or whose conduct is contrary to the spirit of the Terms or the intention of the Program and declare void its submission based on such conduct; or (b) declare void submissions resulting from any errors materially affecting the selection process or the number of Developers.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and keep indemnified Google at all times from and against all liability, claims, demands, losses, damages, costs and expenses resulting from any act, default or omissions by you and or a breach of any warranty by you detailed herein to the maximum extent permitted by law. You indemnify and agree to keep indemnified Google at all times from and against any liability, actions, claims, demands, losses, damages costs and expenses for or in respect of which Google will or may become liable by reason of or related or incidental to any act, default or omission by you under these rules including without limitation resulting from or in relation to any breach, non-observance, act or omission whether negligent or otherwise, pursuant to those rules. To the maximum extent permitted by law, you agree to hold Google, its respective Directors, Officers, Employees and assigns harmless for any injury or damage caused or claimed to be caused by participation in the Program and/or use or acceptance of any Program benefit.

10. Severability

If any provision(s) of these Terms are held to be invalid or unenforceable, all remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

11. Google Play

For the avoidance of doubt, distribution of the apps by Developers through Google Play is governed by the Developer Distribution Agreement found at https://play.google.com/about/developer-distribution-agreement.html (or such other URL as Google may specify), or any other similar agreement for distribution of the apps provided by Google or its affiliates, but not, for the avoidance of doubt, these Terms.

12. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms shall be governed by, subject to, and construed in accordance with California law, excluding California’s choice of law. Nothing in these Terms will limit a party’s ability to seek equitable relief. The parties will try in good faith to settle any dispute relating to these Terms (“Dispute”) within 30 days after such Dispute arises. If the Dispute is not resolved within 30 days, it must be resolved by arbitration by the International Centre for Dispute Resolution of the American Arbitration Association and conducted in accordance with its Expedited Commercial Rules in force as of the date of these Terms. There will be one arbitrator selected by mutual agreement of the parties.

The arbitration will be conducted in English in Santa Clara County, California, USA. Any decision rendered by the arbitrator will be final and binding on the parties, and judgment thereon may be entered by any court of competent jurisdiction. The arbitrator may order equitable or injunctive relief consistent with the remedies and limitations in these Terms. All information disclosed in connection with the arbitration, including the existence of the arbitration, will be considered confidential information and shall not be disclosed to third parties except as required by law. The parties may, however, disclose such information to an appropriate court under confidentiality restrictions, as necessary to seek enforcement of any arbitration award or judgment or to seek any relief permitted under these Terms. Nothing in these Terms will limit a party’s ability to seek equitable relief necessary to protect its rights pending resolution of the arbitration.

13. Language.

These Terms are made in both English and Korean languages. In the event of any inconsistencies, discrepancies or conflict of interpretations between the English language version and the Korean language version of this Agreement, the English language version shall prevail.

Startups need to meet baseline requirements.

Startups must meet specific criteria to be eligible for Google product credit offerings. To learn more about the Google Cloud credit eligibility requirements, please visit the Google Cloud startup page.