KDB backs $100 mn SE Asia fund of Korean, Chinese VC firms

South Korean venture capital firm SV Investment Corp, together with China’s Shenzhen Capital Group, will raise $100 million in the Korean VC's first close of a Southeast Asia-focused fund, drawing almost $30 million from the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB).

Both VC companies plan to raise additional capital to double the size of the new fund, to be their second joint fund, to $200 million, according to venture capital industry sources on Dec. 9

Last month, KDB selected the joint fund as its scale-up investment vehicle focusing on Southeast Asia and committed 30 billion won ($28 million) to it. Scale-up funds invest in late- and growth-stage companies.

Under the KDB mandate, the $100 million fund will invest mainly in Korean small- and medium-sized companies with operations in Southeast Asia and India, as well as companies based in the region and doing business with Korean firms.

It will balance investments among Southeast Asia, China and South Korea.

SV Investment, listed on the Kosdaq junior market in Seoul, began the fundraising last year alongside the leading Chinese VC firm. Their first joint fund, launched in 2016, raised $100 million. 

“This new fund will be set apart from the first one by expanding its target regions to Southeast Asia,” an SV Investment source told Market Insight, The Korea Economic Daily’s capital market news outlet.

For the new fundraising, SV Investment opened an office in Singapore, adding to its offices in Shahgnhai, Shenzhen and Boston in the US. The Singapore office will focus on deal sourcing and fundraising from overseas investors.

In 2018, SV Investment also formed a $100 million joint fund with US-based Kensington Capital Ventures.

Write to Jung-hwan Hwang at jung@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.