The second round of applications for the Venture Capital Acceleration Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program is estimated to yield investment benefits exceeding 10 billion yuan.
Approved Results of the First Round of the Venture Capital Acceleration for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program
On the 29th, the Industrial Development Administration (IDA), Ministry of Economic Affairs, announced the approved results of the first round of the "Venture Capital Acceleration for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program" and officially launched the second round of applications. A total of 10 projects have been approved in the first round, with approximately NT$176 million in government funding, expected to leverage NT$1.25 billion in private investment. Over the next four years, the second round is expected to generate more than NT$10 billion in investment impact.
IDA Director General Chiu Chiu-Hui stated that the program's biggest innovation is transforming the traditional government subsidy review process. The two key changes are replacing conventional technical evaluations with a market-driven mechanism and significantly simplifying the application and review process.
He explained that previous subsidy programs focused heavily on academic and technical indicators, often resulting in insufficient market demand evaluation. This program fully adopts market validation, allowing venture capital firms with market expertise to assess projects, commit investments, and share investment risks. Traditional committee reviews have been replaced by practical investment agreements that proceed directly to the final approval stage. As a result, the review period has been reduced from over 100 days to just 30 days.
Regarding the second round of applications, Chiu noted that, building on the success of the first round, the program will strategically allocate funding, collaborate with leading venture capital firms, continue selecting projects through market mechanisms, and adopt a "large firms supporting smaller firms" model, aiming to generate over NT$10 billion in tangible investment impact.
The IDA also introduced several improvements based on the first round's implementation experience, including expanding investor eligibility. While the first round was limited to Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) participation, the second round will also allow Venture Capital (VC) firms to form joint investment teams.