Global Fund Behind Baemin, Toss, and Kurly Selects 7 Companies This Year

KRW 1.3 Trillion Fund Established
Supporting K-Startup Overseas Expansion

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Lee Young) announced on the 21st that it has selected a total of seven global fund managers for 2023. These global fund managers were chosen by Korea Venture Investment Corp. after a business announcement, document review, and on-site evaluation, and were finalized by the Investment Deliberation Committee.

This year, the global fund plans to raise more than KRW 1.3032 trillion by investing KRW 64.9 billion from the Korea Fund of Funds. A total of 45 overseas venture capital managers applied, recording a competition rate of 7.5 to 1 based on the investment amount.

Photo by Getty Images Bank

Since 2013, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has been playing the role of a connector between domestic companies and global investors by establishing global funds invested by the Korea Fund of Funds and managed by overseas venture capital firms, enabling Korean ventures and startups to receive overseas investments and expand globally.

As of the end of June this year, the global funds have invested KRW 628.7 billion from the Korea Fund of Funds and are managing 59 funds worth KRW 8.8515 trillion. These funds are distributed worldwide, including 30 in the United States, 14 in Southeast Asia, 8 in China, 5 in Europe, 1 in the Middle East, and 1 in Latin America.

Through the global funds, 553 domestic companies have received investments totaling KRW 1.0064 trillion, which is 1.6 times the amount invested by the Korea Fund of Funds. Representative cases such as Woowa Brothers, Viva Republica, and Kurly have grown into unicorn companies through the global funds.

Minister Lee Young stated, "Based on the overseas network established through the global funds, we will actively support the investment attraction and global expansion of our ventures and startups."

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