Gwangju TP, Joint Investment Attraction Briefing with Local Accelerators

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Gwangju Technopark will hold a joint investment attraction briefing (IR) with Gwangju-based accelerators (AC) Pacemakers and Y&Archer at the Korea Exchange Conference Hall in Seoul on the 4th and 5th.

This event, attended by 18 promising investment companies jointly discovered and supported by the three organizations, was held at the Korea Exchange for the first time among nationwide technoparks to maximize investment attraction from metropolitan VCs.

About 40 investment firms, including AI investment fund managers, participated on-site, and about 60 companies joined via YouTube live broadcast, making it the largest regional event with a total of about 100 VCs attending. After the presentations, 1:1 investment consultations between investors and companies were conducted.

Also, as the cradle of the capital market and an opportunity for a new leap for regional small and medium venture companies, this event held at the Korea Exchange, where KOSDAQ listings take place, provided guidance on KONEX and KOSDAQ listing systems for local SMEs.

So far, Gwangju Technopark has jointly held the largest regional investment attraction briefings (IR) twice in the first and second halves of 2021 with related local organizations and ACs, with 92 investors and 91 investment-seeking companies participating.

Through this, 22 Gwangju regional companies that participated in the event succeeded in attracting a total investment of 52.6 billion KRW, including direct investments from venture capitals (VCs) and linked investments from related VCs, and they expect investment attraction results from this event as well.

Gwangju Technopark led the formation of the first AI investment fund worth 109.8 billion KRW, which pledged to invest more than 20 billion KRW in companies located in Gwangju in 2020. Within less than two years since its formation, 76.6 billion KRW has been invested in 45 companies out of the total 109.8 billion KRW, and considering co-investments and additional linked investments, the total investment amount reaches about 360 billion KRW.

Among them, a total of 65.6 billion KRW was invested in 11 companies located in Gwangju, including 17.3 billion KRW in direct investments and 48.3 billion KRW in linked investments, and an additional direct investment of about 5 billion KRW is expected to be made in 2 to 3 companies by the end of this year.

Gwangju Technopark aims to build on the success of this first AI fund by jointly establishing a second AI investment fund with Gwangju Bank in the second half of this year to support investments at different growth stages of AI companies.

Kim Sun-min, Director of Gwangju Technopark, stated, “We plan to support funds that allow AI companies flocking to Gwangju to take root and settle here, and create investment funds available for each growth stage. To fully establish a sustainable investment ecosystem, we will continue to strengthen investment attraction cooperation with local VCs and ACs.”

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