Planting Dunamu, Pocketing 50 Billion Won in Bonuses... 'Jackpot Funds' Create VC Tycoons

A 200 Billion Won Investment Yields 1 Trillion Won... A Jackpot for Investment Professionals
Typically, 20% of Fund Performance Goes to VCs, Distributed by Contribution
Legal Disputes Can Arise When Performance Bonuses Are Withheld

As 'jackpot' cases emerge in which venture capital (VC) funds recover investments and liquidate, leading to billions of won in performance bonuses, there is growing attention on the bonuses awarded to VC investment managers. Some star managers have become high-net-worth individuals rivaling company owners, pocketing hundreds of billions of won in bonuses solely through their investment acumen.

Jackpot for the Fund That Invested in Dunamu

According to the VC industry on March 13, Atinum Investment completed the liquidation process of the ‘Atinum High-Growth Enterprise Investment Partnership’ on March 6. Atinum Investment formed this fund in 2014 with capital from the National Pension Service and others, totaling 203 billion won, and earned a total of 218.7 billion won in performance bonuses from it.

Typically, VCs receive performance bonuses based on a pre-agreed ratio when their venture capital funds generate returns exceeding a benchmark rate, and they award bonuses to those, such as investment managers, who contributed to the success. In this case, the outstanding gains were mainly driven by early investment in Dunamu, the operator of cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, whose corporate value was negligible at the time. Dunamu's valuation, which stood at 50 billion won in 2016, soared to 20 trillion won in 2021 when Atinum Investment began aggressively recovering its investment.

The individual in the spotlight following the fund's liquidation is Jeouk Kim, Vice President of Atinum Investment. Kim spearheaded the investment in Dunamu and, based on interim returns from the fund in 2022 and 2023, received a total of 48.563 billion won in bonuses alone. Atinum Investment’s total performance bonuses also jumped significantly, reaching 78.4 billion won in 2022 and 113.2 billion won in 2023, compared to 4.6 billion won in 2020 and zero in 2021.

Kim's bonus amounted to 27.884 billion won in 2022 and 20.679 billion won in 2023, reflecting investment recoveries such as Dunamu; it then decreased to 7.45 billion won in 2024 and 9.832 billion won last year. A representative from Atinum Investment explained the decrease in performance bonuses, saying, "Starting in 2024, the startup ecosystem experienced a harsh winter as the investment climate tightened. Rather than making forced recoveries, it was a period when we supported portfolio companies in strengthening their fundamentals while waiting for the market to recover."

The scale of performance bonuses is likely to increase again. Accordingly, there are expectations that bonuses for Kim and other relevant investment managers will rise significantly this year. An industry insider said, "The 'Growth Investment Partnership 2023,' which was established in September 2023 with a scale of 860 billion won, has already shown rapid results by distributing 180 billion won—35% of its capital calls—in just its second year. Even if it doesn't match the scale of the Dunamu investment, sizable performance bonuses and manager bonuses are expected again this year."

Certain Bonuses Tied to Fund Management Performance

In the VC industry, there are many cases where investment managers receive bonuses several times their base salary based on fund liquidation or recovery performance. Since a manager’s expertise directly impacts the fund’s return, a clear performance-based compensation system is in place.

Mingyeom Kim, Managing Director of Mirae Asset Venture Investment, is another representative case. Mirae Asset Venture Investment’s performance bonuses were 11.4 billion won in 2024, an increase of over 5 billion won from the previous year’s 6.4 billion won. As a result, Kim received a total of 1.25821 billion won in 2024, which included a bonus of 1.00456 billion won, for his participation as a chief fund manager and key operator in funds such as 'Mirae Asset Youth Startup Investment Partnership No. 3', 'MAV New Growth Promising Enterprise Investment Partnership No. 3', and 'Mirae Asset Global Unicorn Investment Partnership'.

However, since bonuses can range from several hundred million won to tens of billions of won, legal disputes sometimes arise over their distribution. Such conflicts are typically due to ambiguous criteria for performance bonus allocation or disagreements between individuals and companies regarding payment after key personnel depart.

In fact, in March 2022, Jihoon Lim, former CEO of Kakao Ventures, filed a lawsuit against Beomsoo Kim, then Chairman of the Kakao Board, and Kakao Ventures, demanding a performance bonus ranging from 60 billion to 800 billion won in connection with the Dunamu investment returns.

Lim had agreed with Kakao Ventures to receive 44% of the performance bonuses from the 'K Cube No.1 Venture Investment Partnership Fund,' which was established in 2021, regardless of his period of service, and expected to receive these bonuses. However, Kakao Ventures announced its policy not to pay, citing legal and tax reasons, and the matter went to court. The dispute ended in March last year when both parties accepted the court's recommendation for settlement. The details of the settlement were not disclosed.

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