LG injects $97 mn into Vista Equity’s fund for new tech investments

LG Group, South Korea’s fourth-largest conglomerate, injected $97 million into a fund run by Vista Equity Partners Management LLC for investments in promising tech companies for future growth drivers such as artificial intelligence.

LG Corp., the group’s holding company, invested 129.8 billion won ($96.9 million) last year in the fund managed by Vista, one of the world’s three largest private equity firms focusing on the tech sector, according to industry sources in Seoul on Wednesday.

The South Korean company aimed to invest in promising tech companies worldwide across industries such as AI, bio and automotive electronics through the fund.

Vista, founded in Austin, Texas, in 2000, is a major US private equity firm with a special focus on investment in software, data and tech companies. It has more than $100 billion of assets under management as of 2023.

DIRECT INVESTMENTS

LG Group has been directly investing in startups.

The conglomerate spent 2 billion won on Galux Inc., a South Korean AI new drug developer, according to industry sources. The startup established by Seoul National University chemistry professor Seok Chaok and her students in 2020 works on new drug development technology based on protein structure analysis.

LG Electronics Inc., the leading global home appliance maker, recently invested 5 billion won in Goqual Inc., a domestic smart home startup. A smart home is a home setup where internet-enabled appliances and devices can be automatically controlled remotely using a networked device.

Goqual provides the Internet of Things (IoT) services, which allow users to control various household devices such as home security cameras and smart curtains.

LG Group is expanding investments in startups through its investment arm LG Technology Ventures.

The Silicon Valley-based corporate venture capital unit founded in 2018 currently operates funds invested by seven group affiliates. It managed 1 trillion won last year, far more than the 600 billion won in 2018.

Write to Ik-Hwan Kim at lovepen@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.