Martial Arts, 'Goldman Sachs-Domestic Startup 1-on-1 Meeting' Held

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] On the 26th, the Korea International Trade Association held one-on-one meetings between the global investment bank (IB) Goldman Sachs and domestic startups at the COEX Startup Branch.

Goldman Sachs established ties with the association by participating as a speaker at ‘NextRise 2020, Seoul,’ hosted by the Trade Association and KDB Industrial Bank in June. Since then, they have shown interest in the Korean startup ecosystem and held investment-related discussions, leading to the organization of this event. Goldman Sachs has made early-stage direct investments in companies such as Baedal Minjok (food delivery) and Zigbang (real estate), and has invested over 4 billion USD since first entering Korea in 1999.

At the event, 10 startups in Series A or later stages from the real estate, logistics/distribution, and cloud sectors participated, including LucentBlock, which is developing a blockchain-based real estate transaction platform; Barogo, a delivery agency service; and Ribeto Korea, which provides co-living services.

Huh Se-young, CEO of LucentBlock, who attended the event, said, “We are preparing a blockchain-based real estate revenue securities trading platform to innovate the commercial real estate market, which is monopolized by a small number of asset owners. Since Goldman Sachs has various domestic and international investment cases and similar experiences, today’s meeting is expected to help innovate the market.”

Stephanie Hu, Co-Head of Goldman Sachs MBD (Merchant Banking Division) Asia, said, “Over the past 20 years, we have steadily invested in Korea, and our investments have evolved alongside Korea’s economic development. Recently, we have been focusing on investments considering technological advancements and innovations showcased by Korean startups in fields such as e-commerce, logistics, and big data, which are expected to be Korea’s next-generation growth engines, as well as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors.”

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