Kakao and SKT Jointly Establish 'ESG Fund' to Support SME Growth

Yeominsu, Co-CEO of Kakao (left), and Yuseong, Head of SK Telecom MNO Business, signed a related MOU last March at the Kakao Pangyo Office located in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, agreeing to share the core ICT assets of both companies with our society.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Kakao and SK Telecom have joined forces to support the sustainable growth of small and venture companies.

On the 12th, the two companies announced that they will jointly establish an ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) fund worth a total of 20 billion KRW, with each investing 10 billion KRW.

This is the first case of major domestic tech companies jointly creating an ESG fund. Earlier in March, the two companies signed a memorandum of understanding for mutual cooperation in the fields of ESG, artificial intelligence (AI), and intellectual property rights.

The two companies plan to actively utilize the ESG fund as a catalyst to nurture ESG innovative companies. The goal is to create a virtuous cycle where multiple ESG innovative companies grow and subsequently exert a positive influence on society.

The ESG fund is expected to invest in companies that possess innovative technologies in the ICT and convergence industry sectors while maintaining excellent ESG management environments.

The fund will be managed by UTC Investment, which has specialized investment experience in the ESG field. The two companies plan to attract additional financial investors to increase the fund size to over 25 billion KRW.

The two companies are also accelerating AI collaboration. They jointly developed the pandemic recovery AI solution ‘SafeCaster API’ and have been providing it free of charge externally through the SK Open API portal since May. They are also expanding its application by helping government agencies and private companies launch services based on the API.

SafeCaster provides a regional ‘COVID-19 Safety Index’ based on big data of floating populations and subway and taxi usage. Users can instantly grasp the risk of COVID-19 exposure by region through the safety index score and receive separate notification services recommending restraint from going outside.

They are also accelerating cooperation in the field of intellectual property rights. Kakao’s subsidiary Kakao Enterprise is expanding AI collaboration by promoting the joint development of ‘GLM (General Language Model)’ aiming to realize AI technology representing Korea. They are also discussing strengthening mutual cooperation on intellectual property rights held by each company and opening them to small and venture companies.

Yeo Min-soo, Co-CEO of Kakao, said, “Kakao will practice essential ESG management based on ‘promise’ and ‘responsibility,’” adding, “We hope this ESG fund will help discover and grow ESG innovative companies to create a better world.”

Yu Young-sang, Head of SK Telecom’s MNO Business, emphasized, “We will actively support companies practicing ESG management for the development of the ICT ecosystem and grow together,” and added, “We hope the ESG fund jointly established with Kakao will be a small help to society.”

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