Government Leads Land and Transport Development with 300 Billion Won Innovation Fund

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Innovation Fund is leading the digital and green New Deal through active investment in startups.

On the 3rd, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that the first sub-fund of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Innovation Fund, the 'Pathfinder Land, Infrastructure and Transport Innovation Investment Association,' has completed raising private capital and has been established with a total size of 17 billion KRW, starting its operations.

The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Innovation Fund is the first policy fund investing in innovative small and venture companies in the land, infrastructure, and transport sector. The Ministry plans to raise a total fund of 300 billion KRW through about 200 billion KRW in contributions by 2027.

Although the land, infrastructure, and transport industry has shown rapid growth, the investment environment for promising small and venture companies has been evaluated as very poor. According to the 2018 venture investment status by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, among the venture investment amounts in 20 Fourth Industrial Revolution fields such as healthcare, investment in the land, infrastructure, and transport sector including autonomous vehicles, drones, and smart cities accounted for only 2.3% of the total. In response, this year, the Ministry newly established a land, infrastructure, and transport innovation account within the Korea Fund of Funds and contributed 10 billion KRW of government budget.

Pathfinder H was selected as the fund manager, overcoming a competition ratio of 8:1, and the recruitment of private investors totaling 7 billion KRW proceeded smoothly, proving the market's interest in promising land, infrastructure, and transport industries.

Going forward, the fund plans to focus investment on small and venture companies with innovation and technological capabilities that can lead innovation in the land, infrastructure, and transport sector, including digital and green New Deal areas. Companies wishing to attract investment can contact the fund manager, Pathfinder H.

Kang Juyeop, Policy Planning Officer at the Ministry, said, "We expect the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Innovation Fund, the first policy fund in the sector, to be a great help to new industry companies in land, infrastructure, and transport that have had difficulties attracting investment," adding, "We plan to make various policy efforts to ensure abundant market liquidity flows into new industries in land, infrastructure, and transport."

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