Kakao Ventures Invests 50 Billion KRW in 43 Startups This Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Kakao Ventures, a specialized early-stage startup investment firm, announced its investment activities for the year 2022 on the 20th.

Kakao Ventures made new and follow-up investments totaling over 50 billion KRW in 43 startups this year. Among all investment deals, seed rounds and pre-Series A stages accounted for about 84%, while follow-up investments in existing family (portfolio) companies made up 16%. By sector, there were 16 in services, 7 in deep tech, 4 in gaming, and 16 in digital healthcare. The investment amount was recorded as 24.2 billion KRW in the service sector and approximately 15 billion KRW in the deep tech sector.

The number of newly invested startups was 31, a slight increase compared to 28 new investments in the previous year. New investments included 22 seed rounds and 7 pre-Series A rounds, with early-stage investments dominating. Among the 31 startups, Kakao Ventures was the first institutional investor for 25 companies. Investments were also made in overseas startups in the US and Singapore. With the addition of Executive Director Chiwon Kim and Investment Manager Jooyeon Jung, both physicians, investments in the digital healthcare sector were actively carried out.

In the service sector, attention was given to teams solving problems based on information and communication technology (ICT) in areas such as edutech, HR, secondhand trading, content, and wellness. Deep tech investments were made in teams with technological capabilities and scalability in drones, AI, and image and video processing. The digital healthcare family expanded to include various areas from mobile health, medical data, preclinical support, to telemedicine.

This year, two Kakao Ventures family companies, Shift Up and Korea Credit Data, achieved unicorn status. Both companies received their first institutional investment from Kakao Ventures in 2016. Following Dunamu and Danggeun Market securing unicorn status last year, the total number of family companies that have become unicorns has reached four. Medical AI company Lunit was listed on KOSDAQ this year.

To strengthen connections with external experts, Kakao Ventures recruited Hyungcheol Lim, CEO of Blockore, as a value-up partner in the Web3 sector this year. Since 2018, Kakao Ventures has been operating the ‘Value-Up Partner’ program, where experts in product, operations, gaming, growth hacking, and organizational management collaborate to provide advice whenever the family requests support.

Jung Sina, CEO of Kakao Ventures, stated, "2022, a year that swung between the highs and lows of the venture capital market, was an unprecedented period for the startup ecosystem over the past decade, and almost all startups faced difficult times. Startups are focusing on their essence and fundamental strength to get through these challenges, and Kakao Ventures also had a year of returning to basics." She added, "In 2023, we will focus on the essence of early-stage investment, going beyond a single moment of investment to fill the rest of the family’s needs and become a more reliable co-pilot during difficult times, creating the startup journey together."

Kakao Ventures started with the K Cube-1 Venture Investment Fund in 2012 and has formed a total of nine funds exceeding 350 billion KRW. As of 2022, it operates eight funds, has over 240 family companies, and cumulative investments have surpassed 320 billion KRW.

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