Altos Ventures Recruits Shin Jung-hwan and Ahn Sang-il as Venture Partners

Altos Ventures, a Korean-American venture capital (VC) firm in the United States, announced on the 6th that it has recruited former Kakao CTO and Vice President Shin Jeong-hwan and former Hyperconnect co-founder and CEO Ahn Sang-il as venture partners. Through this, Altos Ventures plans to strengthen its portfolio company support capabilities and accelerate the discovery of promising early-stage companies in artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced technology fields.

Partner Shin Jeong-hwan graduated from the Department of Architecture at Seoul National University and joined NHN as a software engineer. He served as team leader at NHN Japan and head of NHN Business Platform. Later, as Kakao CTO, he successfully led major service improvements and monetization projects for KakaoTalk, KakaoStory, and other key services, as well as technology integration projects (PMI). He also contributed to strengthening company-wide data utilization capabilities and accelerating the transition to an in-house cloud, driving Kakao’s technological growth.

(From left) Shin Jeong-hwan, former Vice President of Kakao, and Ahn Sang-il, former CEO of Hyperconnect, have joined Altos Ventures as venture partners. Photo by Altos Ventures

Partner Ahn Sang-il graduated from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Seoul National University and gained diverse experience by consecutively founding six startups. In 2014, he co-founded Hyperconnect, developing the global video chat platform Azar and live streaming service Hakuna Live, expanding services to 230 countries worldwide and growing Hyperconnect into a global company. In 2021, he sold Hyperconnect to the global company Match Group and subsequently led Match Group’s global technology service innovation.

Partner Shin Jeong-hwan joined Altos Ventures in September last year, and Partner Ahn Sang-il joined in November of the same year. They plan to actively assist portfolio companies in technology and product development, operational efficiency growth strategies, and discover and nurture promising early-stage startups in AI and advanced technology sectors.

Altos Ventures stated, “Partners Shin Jeong-hwan and Ahn Sang-il are experts with outstanding capabilities in technology development and entrepreneurial experience,” adding, “As innovative startups based on AI continue to emerge globally in the information technology (IT) industry, we expect the two partners to lead the discovery and growth of promising companies based on their rich technical expertise, organizational management experience, and deep insights.”

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