San-eun and Growth Finance Finalize Selection of 18 Fund Managers for 2020 Growth Support Fund

Inducing Follow-up Investments for Active Venture Investment and Scale-up through Fund Enlargement
Establishing a Foundation for Nurturing Unicorn Companies with Native Capital by Selecting Large VC Funds
Completion of Selection without Schedule Disruption through Untact (Non-face-to-face) Review amid Social Distancing
Plan to Raise 8.5 Trillion Won Exceeding the 3-Year Target of 8 Trillion Won with 2.5 Trillion Won Formation within the Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] The Korea Development Bank (KDB), together with Korea Growth Investment Corporation, announced on the 29th that it has finalized the selection of 18 entrusted operators for the '2020 Growth Support Fund.'

By league, there are 2 companies in the Mid-sized League, 2 companies in the Scale-up Growth (Large VC) League, 4 companies in the Scale-up Growth (General) League, 6 companies in the Scale-up Innovation League, and 4 companies in the Rookie League.

The third Growth Support Fund, announced in February, received applications from a total of 49 operators, resulting in a competition rate of 2.7 to 1. Notably, this fund introduced a size self-proposal method, enabling fund scaling according to management strategies, encouraging active venture investments and follow-up investments for scale-up, and by selecting large VC funds, laid the foundation for nurturing unicorn companies with domestic capital.

KDB explained that despite social distancing measures due to COVID-19, the selection process was completed without delay by adopting a non-face-to-face evaluation method, while paying close attention to reducing costs and time for the operators.

The selected operators are expected to complete fund formation within the year to support growth capital for domestic innovative small (venture) and mid-sized companies. Previously, the Growth Support Fund from 2018 to 2019 raised 6 trillion KRW, exceeding the target of 4.8 trillion KRW by about 25%. As of the end of last month, 1.7 trillion KRW has been invested, showing a favorable execution rate considering the investment period of 4 to 5 years.

A KDB official stated, "Supporting innovative companies and new businesses for the future of Korea's industry is an important mission of KDB. We will take the lead in ensuring that the investment ecosystem is not contracted due to COVID-19 and will act as a market maker."

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