The Korea Exchange’s trade market to support and create financing for small and medium-sized start-up companies is showing rapid and steady growth, KRX and industry officials said.

The Korea New Exchange market, or KONEX, was set up in July 2013 to provide a direct financing route for start-up SMEs that could not fulfill listing requirements for other exchange markets. It began with a total market value of about 468.9 billion won ($422 million), and since then has quadrupled to roughly 1.82 trillion won ($1.63 billion) as of March 6, KRX officials said.

The daily trading volume also more than doubled, from about 390 million won ($351,000) in July 2013 to 920 million won ($828,000). Total trading value doubled in the past year, from 2.42 billion won ($2.18 million) in February 2014 to 5.1 billion won ($4.59 million).

This significant growth was spurred by a steady rise in the number of companies listed, with notable increases in the number of small and medium-sized venture tech companies, sources said. The exchange had 24 new listings at the end of 2013 and 34 more in 2014, bringing the total to 71 listings at the end of last year.

According to industry sources, KONEX is also fulfilling its role as a bridge for new small start-ups to eventually be listed on the KOSDAQ thanks to the “Fast Track” system implemented in October 2013. Cases of KONEX companies joining the KOSDAQ either through relisting or M&As went up significantly in the second half of 2014.

To continue this trend and to draw more investment from a variety of sources, the Korea Exchange is reevaluating various regulations and barriers to market participation such as basic deposit requirements, according to a KRX source.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)