Korea taps Greyhound Capital, Headline Asia as venture fund managers

South Korean Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced the results of selecting global fund management companies for the year 2023 on Monday.

The chosen global fund management companies were determined through document review and on-site evaluation after the announcement of the program by Korea Venture Investment Corporation. The final selection of seven companies was made by the Investment Committee. DCM, Greyhound Capital and Headline Asia were among the selected managers. 

This year's global fund aims to raise more than 1,303 billion won ($970 million) by investing 64.9 billion won ($48.4 million) from the fund of funds. A total of 45 overseas venture capital management companies applied, resulting in a competitive ratio of 7.5:1 based on investment sums.

Since 2013, the ministry has been creating global funds managed by overseas venture capital firms through investments from the fund of funds, serving as a bridge between domestic companies and global investors to facilitate overseas investment and global expansion for domestic ventures and startups.

As of the end of June 2023, through global funds, a total of 628.7 billion won ($468.5 million) was invested from the fund of funds, managing 59 funds with a total size of 8,852 billion won ($6.6 billion). These funds are distributed worldwide, including 30 in the US, 14 in Southeast Asia, eight in China, five in Europe, one in the Middle East, and one in Latin America.

Through global funds, 553 domestic companies received investments totaling 1,006.4 billion won ($750 million), which is 1.6 times the investment from the fund of funds. Representative examples such as Woowa Brothers, Viva Republica, and Kurly have grown into unicorn companies through global funds.

"Based on the overseas network established through global funds, we will actively support the enlistment of investments and global expansion of our ventures and startups," Minister of SMEs and Startups Lee Young said. 

Meanwhile, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is accelerating activities to support the global expansion of domestic ventures and startups, including the creation of joint funds with the US and Saudi Arabia, and participation in Saudi's BIBAN and France's VivaTech.

Write to Hyung-Chang Choi at calling@hankyung.com