SBA Surpasses 3.6 Trillion KRW in Cumulative Venture Investment Fund Formation... 889.6 Billion KRW Added This Year Alone

Seoul Business Agency (SBA) logo. [Photo by Seoul Business Agency]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Junhyung] The Seoul Business Agency (SBA) announced on the 4th that the cumulative amount raised by its venture investment funds has exceeded 3.6 trillion KRW.

Since 2008, SBA has continuously invested in venture investment funds to revitalize the startup ecosystem in Seoul. Since 2018, SBA has also managed the Seoul Metropolitan Government's 'Seoul Future Innovation Growth Fund' project.

Over the past three years, the scale of the funds has significantly expanded through the joint establishment and operation of SBA funds and Seoul city funds. SBA's cumulative venture investment fund amount reached 2.7 trillion KRW last year, nearly four times the 700 billion KRW recorded in 2018. This year alone, SBA has additionally raised funds worth 889.6 billion KRW. To date, SBA has invested in 87 funds, with a cumulative amount exceeding 3.6 trillion KRW.

The fund performance is also encouraging. According to SBA, eight funds that have been liquidated or are currently being recovered have generated approximately 2.5 times returns. SBA invested 22 billion KRW in these eight funds and recovered 54.3 billion KRW. The recovered capital is used for reinvestment, including fund contributions.

SBA is also actively conducting equity investments targeting early-stage startups. Especially this year, various exit cases through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have been created. SBA has achieved about double returns through seven exit cases this year, with recovered amounts totaling approximately 2.6 billion KRW.

Among the exit cases, Thingsflow, the operator of the chatbot service 'HelloBot,' was acquired by Krafton. The high-precision map production company Stris was acquired by Kakao Mobility. Considering that major IT companies acquired these startups, SBA explains that the potential and technological capabilities of the startups invested in by SBA have been proven.

Based on these achievements, SBA intends to strengthen the virtuous cycle system of startup investment through exits. Lee Taehun, head of SBA's Startup Division, said, "We will firmly establish a virtuous cycle system so that Seoul can grow into a 'Top 5 Global Startup City.'"

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