11
Sep
Venture in Korea: Finding the next unicorn
South Korea’s industrial capabilities in artificial intelligence-related hardware – not least semiconductors – form an advantageous proving ground for VC strategies rooted in deep tech. Local managers can also rely on policy support, notably the National Growth Fund, which is expected to channel some of its USD 100bn-plus budget into fund commitments. But this should not detract from concerns about elevated valuations in some market segments, potentially volatile sources of growth funding, and constrained exit routes.
- How is policy-backed capital impacting venture capital?
- Are there enough participants in each tier of Korea’s VC market?
- Which areas of deep tech deliver the most attractive opportunities?
- How viable are IPO exits on domestic stock exchanges?
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SpeakersYu Kyeong Kim Seoul Bureau Chief & Editor APAC Mergermarket
Sung Woo Ahn Partner 500 Global
Heeeun Park Partner Altos Ventures
Aaron Shin Founding Member & Managing Partner Ascendo Ventures
Kihong Bae Co-Founder and Managing Partner Strong Ventures
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Yu Kyeong Kim has been based in South Korea since 2010, where she heads a team of financial journalists across Seoul and other key parts of Asia for Mergermarket. With extensive experience in investigative reporting on M&A, private equity, and a range of arbitrage and corporate finance transactions, her expertise spans multiple APAC markets beyond South Korea. She is also a holder of the CAIA (Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst) certification.
Sung Woo Ahn is a Partner at 500 Global, where he leads investment activities in Korea. Prior to joining 500 Global, he served as President and Chief Investment Officer at Mirae Asset Private Equity and spent over a decade in investment banking at Citigroup Global Markets in New York in the Technology, Media and Telecom group and Seoul. Sung Woo focuses on AI, enterprise software, semiconductors, robotics, and other deep technology investments. He holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Heeeun Park is a Partner at Altos Ventures. She has invested in more than 80 companies with a focus on Korea and throughout Japan and Southeast Asia. When Altos Ventures expanded its presence to Korea with its first Korea fund in 2014, Heeeun joined as the first member of the Korea team. She has played a key role and actively contributed to the growth and success of the firm's investments in Korea. Last year, Altos closed its sixth Korea fund with $600 million. Prior to Altos, Heeeun was the founder and CEO of an online dating app in Korea, where she grew the company from a business plan to the largest mobile dating service in Korea.
Aaron is a founding member and Managing Partner at Ascendo Ventures, a Seoul-based venture capital firm, where he partners with entrepreneurs tackling difficult technical problems. He invests starting from pre-Series A through to later stage, across applied AI, robotics, media tech, digital healthcare, energy and clean-tech.
Prior to co-founding Ascendo, Aaron served as an Asia Investment Partner at Formation 8, where he invested in Korean technology companies at an early stage and actively supported the global expansion of the firm's portfolio across the US and Asia.
Before Formation 8, Aaron was an Investment Professional at Softbank Ventures, focusing on early-stage startups across e-commerce, digital content and other emerging technology sectors. Prior to this, he worked as a consultant at Accenture, delivering SCM planning, new business planning, CRM and purchasing strategy projects for large corporations in the retail, consumer and healthcare industries. He studied Computer Science at Seoul National University.
Kihong Bae is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Strong Ventures. He has invested in more than 300 Korean and Korean-American startups, with Strong serving as the very first institutional investor in 240 of them. He likes to make early bets on category leaders and has a deep respect for “cockroach” founders - entrepreneurs who refuse to die, always finding ways to survive and thrive. He strongly believes VCs should work as hard as the founders they back, and he leads by example, working seven days a week.