Global VCs urge S.Korea to train lawyers on int'l contracts

Brad McManus, investment director of the Silicon Valley-based venture capital (VC) fund Applied Ventures LLC, said his company will discuss investment opportunities closely with Korean startups at CES 2023, the world's largest exhibition of home appliances and information and communications technology.

At the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel on Friday near the Las Vegas Convention Center, the venue of this year's CES 2023, the Korea Economic Daily, Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul Business Agency and the Palo Alto, California-based VC GFT Ventures jointly hosted the event Korea-US Frontier Tech Startup Networking Day. Held as a standing reception, the event attracted about 120 people including around 40 VC representatives from Korea and abroad.

Staff from Global VCs like Volta Ventures, IgniteXL Ventures, Ethos Ventures and ACVC Ventures attended, along with those from corporate capital venture funds like Qualcomm, Bosch, Toyota, Sony, HP, Asahi Kasei, MS&AD, Applied Materials, Panasonic, Shanghai Motors, SK Hynix Inc. and LG Group.

McManus said he had a long talk with Yune Ji-won, founder and CEO of SDT, a company specializing in quantum standards technology that helps digital transformation in an industrial setting, calling it a "very interesting company."

Kim Kwang-rog, partner at the VC Primer Sazze Partners, said, "This was meaningful as a meeting between global investors and Korean startups.

After the event, VC reps attended a roundtable hosted by Minister of SMEs and Startups Lee Young and presented their ideas for Korea to attract more investment. The opinions expressed included recommendations for government-run training for lawyers in global practices for investment contracts and a country's laws to ensure that such agreements follow global standards and more joint investment by Korean and foreign VCs.

Jay Eum, CEO of GFT Ventures, said, "The (South Korean) government should provide support for living expenses and visa sponsorship to allow Korean students to experience internships abroad."

Write to Sang-Eun Lee at selee@hankyung.com