"Venture Funds Attracting Money" Surpass 9 Trillion Won for the First Time Ever... Single Largest 281 Billion Won

Ministry of SMEs and Startups Announces '2021 Venture Fund Formation Performance'
Fund Formation Amount Up 34% YoY, "Record High"
Small Funds Under 10 Billion Won Increase 2.6 Times, Account for 42.6%
Largest Fund, 281 Billion Won Managed by KTBNetwork

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] Last year, the amount raised by newly established venture funds surpassed 9 trillion won, marking the highest record for two consecutive years.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 17th that an analysis of the 2021 venture investment associations (venture funds) formation performance showed that last year, venture fund formation exceeded 9 trillion won for the first time, reaching a record high of 9.2171 trillion won.

Last year's venture fund formation performance increased by 34.0% (2.3363 trillion won) compared to the previous year, totaling 9.2171 trillion won. The number of newly established venture funds also doubled to 404, compared to the previous record high of 206 in 2020.

By quarter, all four quarters recorded the highest performance for the respective quarters, maintaining an upward trend. In particular, the fourth quarter led the breakthrough of 9 trillion won with a single-quarter record high of 3.9046 trillion won raised.

Small-scale funds under 10 billion won numbered 172, increasing 2.6 times from the previous year and accounting for the largest share (42.6%). There was also a trend of active fund formation by startup planners. Since 11 venture funds operated by startup planners were first established in 2020, the number surged approximately 3.7 times to 41 last year.

Looking at the status of investors in newly established venture funds, policy finance sector investments such as the Korea Fund of Funds accounted for 2.7429 trillion won (29.8%), while private sector investments accounted for 6.4742 trillion won (70.2%).

There were 21 venture funds established last year with over 100 billion won, totaling 3.057 trillion won, which is about one-third of the total amount raised. Among these 21 funds, three did not have policy finance investors such as the Korea Fund of Funds as major contributors.

The second largest fund established last year, 'Hashed Venture Investment Association No. 2,' managed by Hashed Ventures, was formed solely with private capital amounting to 240 billion won.

The largest fund was the 'KTBN 18th Venture Investment Association,' managed by KTB Network, which was formed with 281 billion won, including 50 billion won from the Korea Fund of Funds.

Park Yong-soon, Director of Venture Innovation Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, stated, "The Ministry will continuously improve the system to further spread the second venture boom, but it is also time for startups and investors in the private sector to pay attention to the soundness of the venture investment ecosystem."

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