Jiseong Bae, Chairman of the Venture Capital Association, "Expecting Unicorns to Emerge from Purely Domestic Capital Investment"

Domestic Venture Boom Sparks Increase in High-Level Talent and Private Capital Inflow

Activation of Private Mother Funds Requires Tax Benefits for Investment

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] "We expect the birth of unicorns purely from domestic capital."

Jiseong Bae, Chairman of the Korea Venture Capital Association (CEO of IMM Investment), recently met with Asia Economy at the VR Building in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and said, "There have been about 15 unicorn companies born in Korea so far," adding, "Unfortunately, most of the last investors were foreign capital."

Chairman Jiseong said, "Until now, domestic venture funds and similar entities were not large in scale," but added, "However, now there is a significant overall venture boom, and with a substantial inflow of domestic private capital, the investment opportunities for foreign investors will decrease in the future."

He noted, "Excellent talents such as doctors and patent attorneys are entering the venture capital (VC) industry, and overflowing liquidity is flowing into the venture market," adding, "Not only among entrepreneurs but also within VCs, a distinctly changed atmosphere can be sensed."

Chairman Jiseong is an expert in venture investment and corporate finance who has built and grown IMM Investment, a leading domestic VC and PE specialized management firm, after working at Samil Accounting Corporation and CKD Startup Investment. He has served as CEO of IMM Investment since 2000 and has held the position of Chairman of the Venture Capital Association since February this year.

He recently stated that Korea's venture competitiveness can be found in sectors such as artificial intelligence and autonomous driving. Chairman Jiseong mentioned many competitive venture companies, including the system semiconductor company Puriosa AI and the autonomous driving technology startup FortyTwoDot, invested in by Hyundai Motor. He emphasized that as the venture market grows, support for early-stage companies, which has been government-led so far, needs to expand into the private sector.

Chairman Jiseong said, "Individuals are becoming interested, and general companies are beginning to view the venture investment market as a financial product," adding, "Tax support is needed so that private sectors such as pension funds, general companies, banks, securities, and insurance can actively invest while reducing risk burdens." To sustain the current venture boom, private-centered mother funds must be nurtured, and tax benefits are necessary for investments. He added, "The government should support small local businesses and very early-stage youth companies, and for those that have been somewhat verified and need scale-up, it is better to match private funds."

However, he warned against excessive market overheating. Chairman Jiseong said, "The venture market itself has limited information access for general investors," adding, "The information acquisition level between investment analysts and the general public is extremely asymmetrical." He emphasized, "VCs, which handle and filter thousands or hundreds of companies' information daily, have an absolute advantage in the market," and "General investors or companies should never invest based on hearsay information." He continued, "Even experts do not succeed in all investments but diversify investments across multiple companies through portfolio management," advising, "Investors who do not have such capital scale should consider indirect investment through trust products when approaching non-listed early-stage companies."

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