Gieun Establishes 'IBK Venture Investment,' the First VC Subsidiary of a Government-Funded Bank

IBK Industrial Bank of Korea has become the first policy bank to establish a venture capital (VC) subsidiary.

On the 28th, IBK announced that it established its VC subsidiary, 'IBK Venture Investment,' by investing 100 billion KRW on the 14th. This comes about a year after President Kim Sung-tae proposed the establishment of a venture capital subsidiary in his inauguration speech in January this year.

This is the first time a policy bank in Korea has established a venture capital subsidiary domestically. IBK Venture Investment will operate as a policy-type venture capital firm, complementing the private market, supporting government policies, and focusing on supporting early-stage startups.

The inaugural CEO will be Cho Hyo-seung, former head of the Strategic Investment Division at SKS Private Equity (PE). CEO Cho is an expert in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory and corporate restructuring (CRC), having served as CEO of Hallim Venture Investment, head of Corporate Finance at Mirae Asset Securities, head of PE at Woori Asset Management, head of PE at Kiwoom Investment Asset Management, and managing director of PE at SK Securities.

An IBK official stated, “IBK Venture Investment plans to acquire a new technology business finance license in the first half of next year and simultaneously raise and invest a venture fund worth 100 billion KRW. Through this, it aims to fill the financial support blind spots for new technology industries and provide seamless growth paths for domestic technology companies.”

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