Venture Investment in the First Half of the Year Reaches 5.4 Trillion Won... 19% Increase from Last Year

Dollar-Converted Amount Exceeds US and UK
Fund Formation Amount is 5.1002 Trillion Won

The scale of new venture investments in the first half of this year was confirmed to be 5.4 trillion KRW, a 19% increase compared to the previous year.

Photo by Ministry of SMEs and Startups

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 21st the '2024 First Half Domestic Venture Investment and Fund Formation Trends,' which includes this information. This trend report includes the performance of venture investment companies and new technology business finance operators in accordance with the 'Innovation Venture and Startup Funding Support and Competitiveness Enhancement Plan.'

The scale of new investments in the first half reached 5.3619 trillion KRW, a 19% increase from the same period last year (4.493 trillion KRW). On a first-half basis, it has increased by an average of 14% annually since 2020.

Compared to major advanced venture investment countries such as the United States, the trend was also favorable. When converted to dollars, domestic venture investment in the first half of this year increased by 51% compared to the first half of 2020, surpassing the United States (20%) and the United Kingdom (19%).

By industry of the invested companies (a total of 9 sectors), investment amounts increased by 6-44% in most sectors (7 sectors) compared to the same period last year. Particularly, ICT services (43.7%), electrical, machinery, and equipment (40.9%), and bio and medical (39.2%) showed significant increases compared to the previous year.

The amount of fund formation in the first half of this year was 5.1002 trillion KRW, which is also an increase compared to the first half of last year (4.7012 trillion KRW).

Looking at the status of venture fund investors, in the private sector, pension funds and mutual aid associations (135.2%), venture capital (9%), and other organizations and foreigners (54.4%) increased compared to the same period last year. In policy finance, the Korea Development Bank (134.3%), Growth Finance (33.2%), and the Korea Fund of Funds (4.2%) also increased.

Oh Young-joo, Minister of SMEs and Startups, said, “It is quite positive that venture investment is increasing compared to last year despite the continued high interest rates and sluggish domestic economy,” adding, “We plan to prepare policy support measures that the market needs based on this.”

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