Smart Study Venture creates $28.4 million Baby Shark Tourism Fund

Smart Study Ventures, a corporate venture capital (CVC) affiliated with The Pinkfong Company, said on Thursday that it has created a "Baby Shark Next Wave Tour Fund" worth 36 billion won ($28.4 million) to develop offline tourist attractions where visitors can experience and purchase Baby Shark contents and goods.

Pinkfong, a South Korean family entertainment company famous for its catchy cartoon song "Baby Shark Dance" which recorded 12 billion cumulative views late last year, said that the fund will be injected into tourism programs using its Baby Shark intellectual properties (IPs).

Smart Study Venture will create experiential spots and goods in cooperation with consumer goods, travel, leisure, accommodation, and dining companies.

Smart Study Ventures was selected as the general partner (GP) of a tourism startup fund last June.

The Busan Metropolitan City government and Korea Venture Investment Corporation under South Korea's startup ministry confirmed their investment of 5 billion won and 22.5 billion won, respectively.

Pinkfong and Seoul Land also participated as liquidity providers to form 36 billion won.

Participants held a general meeting on Dec. 23 last year and completed the first closing, and plans to expand the size of the fund through multi-closing by the first half of this year.

Busan plans to take part as the second-largest investor in the fund and promote the "Baby Shark Busan Hometown Project" to imprint Busan as a familiar destination to baby shark fans.

Smart Study Ventures established a new Busan branch office in September last year and is looking for tourism startups based in Busan.

"We will introduce new programs that can be easily shared and enjoyed by tourists by utilizing local-based content IPs," said Lee Hyun-song, CEO of Smart Study Ventures.

Write to Ran Heo at why@hankyung.com