Daesung PE tops Korean venture funds by return in 2018-2023

Daesung Private Equity Inc. in South Korea has become the top local venture capital manager in terms of realized capital gain between 2018 and 2023, by investing in fast-growing firms such as gaming giant Krafton Inc. and the country’s top cryptocurrency exchange operator Dunamu Inc.

Daesung PE, a unit within South Korean energy conglomerate Daesung Group, formed a secondaries fund with 25 billion won ($18 million) in 2014 and liquidated last year. It made 3.85 times its original investment, according to data from government agency Korea Venture Investment Corp. on Tuesday.

The Seoul-based PE house invested in Krafton before the game publisher launched PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and exited after the firm went public. The VC manager has also achieved significant returns from Dunamu, the operator of crypto exchange Upbit.

SV Investment topped Korean VC managers in terms of realized capital gain in 2022, achieving 1.4 times the principal investment.

SV created a PE fund of 37.4 billion won in 2014 and invested in Bridge Biotherapeutics Inc., a new drug developer for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis treatment, and Biodyne Co., a cervical cancer diagnostic kits developer, and drug delivery system maker Peptron Inc.

Intervest liquidated a 100 billion won pharmaceutical fund in 2020 and achieved 2.37 times the initial principal investment, an exceptionally high return rate for a bio fund.

The fund invested in new drug developers including Genexine Inc., Neoimmunetech Inc., CG Invites Co., Ligachem Biosciences Inc., Y Biologics Inc., ChunLab Inc. and botulinum toxin maker Hugel Inc.

Among the local funds liquidated between 2018 and 2023, the lowest performance was 0.34 times the initial principal. A majority of asset managers that bet on unsuccessful movies and games and biotechs that failed in clinical trials made low returns, a VC industry source said.

Write to Dae-Kyu Ahn at powerzanic@hankyung.com

Jihyun Kim edited this article.