Similar Yet Different 'Metaverse Fund'

Samsung Asset Management and KB Asset Management Compete as Leading Forces in Metaverse Funds
Mirae Asset Management and Others Have No Plans to Launch Products for the Time Being

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] The asset management industry has begun a competition for returns centered on the metaverse. Along with the expansion of 5G (5th generation mobile communication) and advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), and the establishment of contactless culture due to COVID-19, the metaverse market has emerged as a promising industry that will advance the internet era to the next level, sparking a race to secure market dominance.

On the 29th, Samsung Asset Management launched the ‘Samsung Global Metaverse Fund.’ This came just two weeks after KB Asset Management released the ‘KB Global Metaverse Economy Fund’ on the 14th.

Both companies invest in the same theme but have differentiated their management approaches to attract investors. Samsung formed its investment portfolio by utilizing big data and natural language processing to extract themes. After filtering stocks with high interest related to the metaverse through big data, they examined growth potential (momentum) and identified 17 thematic groups. Among these, they primarily invested in stock groups directly related to the metaverse, such as cloud computing (21.8%) and virtual reality (VR, 13%). Instead of fixed allocations, the fund is structured to adjust themes timely based on interest and momentum to manage risk and maximize returns.

While Samsung chose selection and concentration through big data, KB structured its product to evenly cover all areas of the metaverse. KB allocated investment assets as follows: metaverse platforms and content 35.3%, VR devices and other hardware 28.5%, infrastructure such as 5G 25.4%, and software 10.8%. Consequently, the overlapping investment stocks between Samsung and KB’s products are limited to Facebook, Naver, Roblox, and Unity. KB also invests a certain portion in VR equipment companies like Apple and Microsoft, whereas Samsung invests in companies like Lumentum, a photonics firm, showing significant differences.

There is also a difference in initial investment amounts. Samsung launched the product with approximately 10 billion KRW in investments from internal and external sources. In contrast, KB Asset Management released the product without support from affiliated companies, and as of two weeks later, about 5.4 billion KRW has flowed in. The cumulative return rate is approximately 2.07%.

Both companies launched these products with a high evaluation of growth potential, considering that the metaverse is still in its infancy. Roblox, a representative metaverse platform in the U.S., achieved sales of 700 billion KRW in the first quarter of this year alone.

Naver’s augmented reality (AR) avatar service, ‘Zepeto,’ is also used by 200 million people daily. Global market research firm IDC forecasts that the XR industry, a core technology of the metaverse, will grow at an average annual rate of 76.9% until 2024, and Statista predicts a growth rate of 113% during the same period. The term ‘metaverse’ is a compound of the Greek word ‘meta,’ meaning processing or abstraction, and ‘universe,’ referring to the real world, describing a virtual world where value can be created through social, economic, and cultural activities.

Meanwhile, the competitive landscape between the two companies over the metaverse market is expected to continue for the time being. Major asset management firms such as Mirae Asset Global Investments, Hanwha Asset Management, Shinhan Asset Management, and Korea Investment Management have stated that they have no plans to launch products related to the metaverse.

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