KDB to resume global venture IR event in Singapore

South Korea’s state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) said on Thursday that KDB NextRound, the bank’s venture investment platform, will hold its investor relations (IR) event from April 26 to 30 in Singapore.

The biannual IR event, connecting Korean and global ventures to worldwide investors, has been suspended since it was held in Jakarta in September 2019 due to COVID-19. This time, the attendees will include about 30 venture capital firms and ventures from Korea, seven Singaporean firms and some global institutional investors, including Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC.   

There are seven Korean ventures to give presentations at the IR meeting: Bucketplace Co., the operator of Korea’s largest home interior platform OHouse; Mathpresso Inc., an operator of AI-powered math learning platform QUANDA; Dxome Co., a medical test kits provider; Yangyoo Co., a Korean fusion rice cake maker; Gomi Corp., an e-commerce solutions provider; Kaflix, a platform for car rentals on Korea's Jeju Island; and 42dot, an autonomous driving startup.   

The seven Singaporean ventures include Barghest Building Performance (BBP), an energy efficiency solutions provider; Mecenia, an intellectual property creator; Tictag, a business solutions provider using big data analysis; Vouch, a hotel and travel service platform; Zunō, a carbon management solutions provider; Filmplace, a video-shooting locations platform; and Korean hydrogen-electric boat maker Vinssen’s Singaporean affiliate.

Some Korean VC firms, including Capstone Partners, LB Investment and Korea Investment Partners, will also join the event.  

GIC and other global VC giants will attend, such as Singapore’s Vertex Venture Holdings and Softbank Vision Fund, according to investment banking sources. Vertex Holdings, a VC unit under Singaporean state holding company Temasek Holdings, have jointly invested with KDB in Bucketplace.    

Launched in 2017, the NextRound event carried out IR meetings of 1,055 ventures until 2019. Some 180 out of the ventures succeeded in attracting investments, KDB said.

KDB is also supporting US-based startups founded by Koreans and Korean startups aiming for US entry. Last November, it opened a VC operation in Silicon Valley with $5 million in capital to support the startups' growth.  

Write to Ji-Hye Min at spop@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.