Park Chan-ho, Now Please Call Him a 'Venture Pitcher'

Appointment of 'K-Unicorn Supporters' Ambassadors to Foster Unicorn Companies

Former Major Leaguer Chan-ho Park (center) is attending the 'K Unicorn Supporters Ambassador Appointment Ceremony' held on the 23rd at Musinsa Terrace in Donggyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, posing for a commemorative photo with Young-sun Park, Minister of SMEs and Startups (left), and others.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 23rd that former Major Leaguer Park Chan-ho, who recently transformed into a venture investor, has been appointed as a promotional ambassador for the K-Unicorn Supporters.

Park Chan-ho will support attracting domestic and international investments and global market entry through promoting prospective unicorn companies, and will serve as a mentor for young startups.

The Ministry explained that the reason for appointing him as a promotional ambassador is that Park Chan-ho’s success story?overcoming adversity and realizing his dreams through challenges during his baseball career?resembles the growth process of unicorns. Additionally, since last year, he has been active in the venture field as a partner of SparkLabs, an accelerator nurturing startups.

The K-Unicorn Supporters, which appointed Park Chan-ho as a promotional ambassador, is a collaborative body among domestic investment institutions launched to promote large-scale investments during the unicorn growth stage. It started in November last year as a gathering of 24 top venture capital firms by assets under management, and currently includes 50 institutions such as banks, asset management companies, securities firms, large corporations, and unicorns.

Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, said, “When I was an LA correspondent, I personally interviewed Park Chan-ho, and his performance was a great source of hope and encouragement to the people suffering from the IMF crisis at the time,” adding, “Like Park Chan-ho’s specialty, the changeup pitch, he will play a major role in transforming the culture and environment so that the entire nation takes an interest in startups, unicorn companies, and further, the venture ecosystem.”

Promotional Ambassador Park Chan-ho said, “In the early part of my life, I was active as a baseball player with patriotism, and now I want to integrate positive influence into society as a venture investor,” and added, “Through my activities as a promotional ambassador, I will strive to inform the entire nation about the achievements of K-Unicorn companies.”

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