Driven by Aggressive Private Investment, Policy Support
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korean Venture Capital Association announced on Nov. 24 that fresh venture capital investment for the first 10 months of this year added up to 3,524.9 billion won, up 21.7 percent from a year ago. The ministry said that an aggressive private investment and policy support such as deregulation led to such a significant increase.
However, those in the investment sector pointed out that private investors temporarily flocked to venture investment with a recession going to make it more and more difficult to find a lucrative opportunity. This is evidenced by the fact that the KOSDAQ stock exchange is still in a slump in spite of the increase in venture investment.
The bioengineering sector accounted for 27.9 percent of the total venture investment during the period. It was followed by information and communications (25.2 percent).
Investment in venture firms in the scale-up stage, that is, those in their third to seventh year accounted for 40.4 percent of the total. In addition, 34.4 percent of the total investment went to those in their first to third year. In the meantime, the amount of venture funds raised in the first 10 months of this year is 2,692.1 billion won, approximately six billion won less than a year ago.