Stonebridge Ventures "Will Leap to Top VC with KOSDAQ Listing"

Stonebridge Ventures_ CEO Seungwoon Yoo.

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji-hwan Park] "Stonebridge's goal is to leap forward as the 'one-pick venture capital (VC).' We aim to be the first VC that institutional investors and shareholders providing investment funds, as well as the companies receiving investments, think of."

Yoo Seung-woon, CEO of venture capital Stonebridge Ventures, held an online press conference on the 9th to announce the growth plans and vision after listing. Stonebridge Ventures was established in 2017 when the venture investment division of private equity firm Stonebridge Capital was spun off. CEO Yoo said, "Stonebridge Ventures is a top player in the industry proven by performance, and from this year, the medium- to long-term returns of 18 funds are expected to continue," adding, "We see this year as the starting point for full-scale recovery and growth." He emphasized, "We expect the growth rate to accelerate once new fund subscriptions proceed, and we will leap forward as a venture capital leading the domestic venture market."

Since 2017, Stonebridge Ventures has invested a total of 579.1 billion KRW in over 100 companies in technology sectors such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), mobile platforms, fintech, retail tech, proptech, and food tech, as well as about 40 companies in life sciences sectors including innovative medical devices, heart disease treatment technologies, digital therapeutics, and personalized new drug development.

In particular, the market recognizes Stonebridge Ventures as a venture capital that hit the jackpot with its investment in Krafton. It achieved a 35-fold return on investment. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups ranked it first when analyzing the profit status of 'venture funds liquidated in the last five years (2016?2020)' last year. The profit amount from the 'Stonebridge Digital Contents Specialized Investment Association,' which invested early in Krafton, reached a whopping 118.9 billion KRW. Stonebridge Ventures' cumulative venture fund liquidation profit amounts to 204.3 billion KRW. Its other investment records are also diverse, including Woowa Brothers, the operator of Baedal Minjok (profit multiple 9.1x), Croquis.com, which operated Zigzag and merged with KakaoStyle (profit multiple 11.3x), and it is securing an investment portfolio including unicorn companies such as Musinsa, the largest online edit shop in Korea, Dunamu, which operates the virtual asset trading platform Upbit, and Zigbang, a real estate brokerage platform.

Stonebridge Ventures draws attention for its high profitability and growth in assets under management (AUM) compared to 11 other VCs that have previously gone public. Over the five years from 2017 to last year, Stonebridge Ventures' average liquidation return rate was 12.9%. Especially, the average liquidation return rate of three funds?‘Stonebridge New Growth Investment Association,’ ‘2010KIF-Stonebridge IT Specialized Investment Association,’ and ‘Future Creation Naver Stonebridge Early-Stage Investment Association’?which completed liquidation after 2020, reached 23.4%. This is about four times the industry average (5.9%).

The increase in AUM is also steep. As of the date of the securities registration statement submission, the company's AUM is approximately 933.9 billion KRW, growing at an average annual rate of 26.3% since 2017. CEO Yoo emphasized, "Although the AUM as of the registration statement submission date is about 930 billion KRW, there is a fund decision confirmed next week for 160 billion KRW," adding, "Since the funds have already been fully received, the AUM has now exceeded 1 trillion KRW." He added, "With the expansion of AUM, management fees are expected to grow accordingly," and "Based on the growth of management fees, we plan to secure stable cash flow and equity capital, and through this, expand fund subscriptions to increase profitability."

This outstanding management capability has translated into results. As of the third quarter of last year, Stonebridge Ventures' accumulated revenue was 31.3 billion KRW, and operating profit was 22.4 billion KRW, exceeding the previous year's results by 27.5% and 52.3%, respectively. The operating profit margin was 71.6%, significantly surpassing the average of 54.8% for 11 listed venture capital companies.

Stonebridge Ventures plans to raise a total of 4.5 million shares through this IPO, with 60% allocated to new shares issuance and 40% to existing shares sales (sale of shares held at listing). The desired public offering price range is 9,000 to 10,500 KRW per share. Based on the upper limit of the offering price, the maximum amount to be raised is 47.25 billion KRW. The market capitalization after listing is estimated to be between 166.8 billion and 194.6 billion KRW. Stonebridge Ventures will conduct institutional investor demand forecasting on February 9?10 and general subscription on February 15?16. Samsung Securities and KB Securities are the lead underwriters.

However, there are concerns that the sluggish stock price trend of a peer company, KTB Network, after its KOSDAQ listing last year, and the fact that a significant portion of shares held by Stonebridge's largest shareholder will be sold as existing shares, could be burdensome. KTB Network set its IPO price at the lower end but has experienced a clear downward trend in stock price since listing. On the first day of listing, KTB Network closed 11.3% lower than the opening price and is currently trading about 24% below the IPO price.

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