[Exclusive] KakaoBank to Establish Investment Team... Hiring VC Veterans

Hana Ventures Daepun Alumni Director Kim Hyunjun Joins
Fintech Market Expected to Focus on Corporate Research
Growth Engine Established through IT Finance Specialization?

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] KakaoBank, an internet-only bank, is accelerating the formation of its investment team by securing professional investment personnel. This move is interpreted as an effort to secure new growth engines. Attention is focused on how it will differentiate its investments from existing Kakao-affiliated investment firms.

According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 6th, KakaoBank recently recruited Hyunjun Kim, Director at Hana Ventures. Director Kim graduated from the Department of Management Science at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and completed a master's course in Future Strategy at the same graduate school. He then held the title of investment analyst at Hanbit Investment, a new technology business finance company. He also co-founded the fintech startup Uprise, gaining direct startup experience. Subsequently, he joined Hana Ventures, the venture capital (VC) arm of Hana Financial Group, focusing primarily on deep tech and other technology companies. He served as a lead fund manager and was active as a key personnel.

His major portfolio includes Madras Check, a developer of the Software as a Service (SaaS) collaboration tool Flow; Medistream, an integrated platform operator in the field of Korean traditional medicine; and Big Picture Interactive, a comprehensive e-sports company.

It is unusual for KakaoBank to recruit someone from venture capital. Director Kim focuses on domestic and international fintech, IT platform markets, and corporate research. He also concentrates on discovering strategic investment opportunities for inorganic growth such as equity investments and mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and reviewing synergies. He handles external investment processes including due diligence, valuation, and negotiations.

Prior to this, KakaoBank carried out some organizational restructuring by subdividing the existing 'Strategy Team.' To focus on investment, it formed the 'New Growth Strategy Team (Strategic Investment)' centered on professional personnel. Since the team was separated, it is expected to concentrate on securing future revenue sources through selection and focus. Especially, with the recruitment of an investment analyst specialized in venture investment, rapid investment activities are anticipated.

Kakao already has specialized investment subsidiaries. Kakao Ventures and Kakao Investment are representative examples, focusing on early-stage and mid-to-late-stage investments respectively. They are already active in the market. Amid this, with KakaoBank also strengthening its investment efforts, Kakao affiliates are stepping forward prominently in the investment market.

An IB industry insider said, "KakaoBank is actively pursuing investment by recruiting venture capitalists," adding, "It seems highly likely that they will engage in principal investments using their own capital." He further noted, "There is also interest in whether additional venture capital personnel will move."

The background of KakaoBank's approach lies in its IT and new technology finance specialization strategy. As an internet-only bank, it is taking a different path from commercial banks.

KakaoBank raised 2.5288 trillion KRW through its listing on the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) last year. Of this, 2.1788 trillion KRW will be used as operating funds, 100 billion KRW for financial technology research and development (R&D), 200 billion KRW for fintech company M&A, and 50 billion KRW for global expansion efforts.

Particularly, attention is focused on financial technology R&D. Following its core revenue sources in banking business and platform business, it is also emphasizing the financial technology B2B (business-to-business) sector. It has developed its own OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology necessary for recognizing IDs remotely and installed it in the KakaoBank app, as well as selling it to other companies.

Ultimately, the goal is to enable remote video interface implementation, intelligent processing of customer consultations, and financial transactions via AI speakers. KakaoBank's investment team is expected to carry out investment activities considering synergy effects.

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