Intops Investment Forms 31 Billion KRW Smart Value-Up Growth Fund with Wonik Investment Partners

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Intops Investment announced on the 7th that it has established the 31 billion KRW-scale '2020 Wonik-Intops Smart Value-Up Growth Fund,' investing in small and venture companies building smart factories, with Wonik Investment Partners as a joint GP.

Intops Investment is a new technology business finance company established in May 2018 with a capital contribution of 10 billion KRW from Intops, a first-tier partner in Samsung Electronics' mobile phone case division. While executing investments in various new technology businesses, it is pursuing strategies that can create synergy with its parent company Intops in manufacturing aspects to seek new growth engines.

In June 2015, Intops launched the 'Paper Program' to foster hardware-based startups, investing over 7 billion KRW in various startups such as Kiwiplus, Lineus, Signet EV, Dot, Nthing, and Peroca. Through manufacturing collaboration with these companies, it has recorded cumulative sales exceeding 50 billion KRW to date. Based on the achievements of this Paper Program, Intops established and is operating Intops Investment for a greater leap forward.

In December 2018, Intops Investment formed its first fund, the 10 billion KRW-scale 'IBKS-INTOPS Innovative Enterprise Design New Technology Association.' It has successfully established the second fund, the '2020 Wonik-Intops Smart Value-Up Growth Fund.' The newly established fund plans to invest more than 60% of the total fund commitment in small and venture companies building smart factories or supplying software and equipment to companies building smart factories. The main investment areas to be included in the future portfolio will target companies supplying 300 items across 45 fields and 9 major themes according to the Innovation Growth Joint Standard Manual classification system.

This fund will be managed by Executive Director Seokjae Lee and Senior Manager Hoseong Kim of Wonik Investment Partners, along with Head Byungsik Kang of Intops Investment. Major contributors include the Korea Fund of Funds, which invested 18 billion KRW, along with IBK Industrial Bank, Shinhan Capital, Intops, Wonik Holdings, and Welcome Crediline Loan, among others.

Jungcheol Lee, CEO of Intops Investment, stated, “Since the successful formation of the first blind fund in December 2018, we have been running at full speed, and we are meaningfully starting this year with the establishment of a new fund. We plan to focus our capabilities on discovering various core technology companies suitable for investment execution in the funds we operate.”

Geunha Kim, CEO of Intops, said, “In the rapidly evolving technological environment including the 4th Industrial Revolution, investment and nurturing of companies possessing core technologies such as smart factories are more important than ever. We will continue our efforts to ensure that the fund’s formation contributes to the growth of related companies in the future.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.