The South Korean government will create a fund worth 26 billion won ($23.9 million) by March next year to invest in local startups and small firms producing over-the-top solutions and digital content, the Ministry of Science and ICT‘s announced Friday.

The government will inject around 16 billion won into the fund, while the remaining 10 billion won will be raised from private investors.

About 60 percent of the fund will be spent to support media productions by local companies and help them in entering overseas markets.

The government also plans to allot 3 billion won for digital content productions that particularly utilize new information and communication technologies, including 5G and artificial intelligence.

The other 40 percent of the fund will be executed by K & Investment Partners, an investment management firm selected by the government.

This fund is part of the government’s 1 trillion-won investment scheme announced in June to help local players better compete with global media giants like YouTube and Netflix.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)