13 Venture Companies in the Top 20 KOSDAQ Market Cap, "Driving KOSDAQ 1000"

13 Companies' Market Cap 44.8 Trillion Won... Accounting for 11.5% of KOSDAQ's Total Market Cap

Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, is delivering a greeting at the 'K-Unicorn Project Selected Companies Meeting' held on the 10th at Tipstown in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 8th an analysis of newly listed companies last year among companies that received venture investments, including the top 20 companies by market capitalization in the domestic securities market in 2021 and 4 listed unicorn companies.

According to the Ministry's analysis, the proportion of venture companies within the top 20 by market capitalization on KOSDAQ continues to increase. The number of venture companies among the top 20 by market capitalization was 6 in 2001, 10 in 2011, and 13 as of January this year (based on the 6th).

Among these 13 companies, those currently classified as venture companies include Alteogen, Pearl Abyss, Genexine, and MedPacto. The remaining 9 companies have a history of having been certified as venture companies in the past.

The market capitalization growth rate of these 13 companies was 204.8%, which is 64.8 percentage points higher than the overall KOSDAQ market capitalization growth rate of 140.0%.

Additionally, the combined market capitalization of the 13 listed venture companies was approximately KRW 44.8 trillion, accounting for about 11.5% of the total market capitalization of all KOSDAQ listed companies (approximately KRW 390.3 trillion). Although the number of listed venture companies accounts for only about 0.9% of all KOSDAQ listed companies (1,471 companies), the fact that they account for 11.5% of the total KOSDAQ market capitalization suggests that these 13 listed venture companies have influenced the KOSDAQ Composite Index.

Within the top 20 by market capitalization on KOSPI, there are 4 venture companies: Celltrion, Naver, Kakao, and NCSoft, all of which have a history of having been certified as venture companies. The combined market capitalization of these 4 companies is KRW 151.2 trillion, accounting for 12.4% of the top 20 by market capitalization on KOSPI.

According to the Ministry, among unicorn companies, a total of 7 companies including Viva Republica, Yanolja, Socar, and Aprogen are pursuing listings. Among them, 5 companies?Yanolja, Socar, Krafton, TMON, and GP Club?have completed the selection of lead underwriters for their listings.

Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, stated, “The era of KOSPI 3000 has opened for the first time under this government,” adding, “The driving force that will lead beyond the KOSPI 3000 era to the KOSDAQ 1000 era will be venture and unicorn companies, which play a central role in our economy.”

Park Yong-soon, Director of Venture Innovation Policy at the Ministry, said, “This analysis reconfirmed the statistics from last December and additionally examined the growth of venture companies that have grown through venture investments in the listing market,” adding, “As the detailed survey of venture companies announced at the end of last year showed, more than half of Korea’s industrial property rights come from venture companies, reaffirming that venture companies are leading our economy based on innovation and technological capabilities.”

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