Growing Unicorns
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on Feb. 7 that Korea Venture Investment Corp. would run a venture fund of 2.52 trillion won this year, including a government budget of 1.1 trillion won.
Specifically, the fund is divided into one trillion won for supporting the growth of unicorn companies, 920 billion won for supporting the growth of startups, and 600 billion won for supporting the growth of sectors such as culture, content and patent.
KVIC is planning to help unicorn companies grow by raising a fund of funds. Nine South Korean unicorn companies such as Woowa Bros. and Yanolja have received a total investment of 114.4 billion won from 36 funds based on its fund of funds and the funds have set the foundation for their growth. In addition, KVIC has posted a return of approximately 1,600 percent by partial investment exit.
KVIC is also planning to try to attract private funds into the local venture market. For example, it is going to have meetings with potential investors such as large corporations and pension funds to better communicate with them. Its private venture fund supply goal for this year is more than 4.5 trillion won.
Last year, the venture investment from the South Korean government and the local private sector hit an all-time high of 4.3 trillion won with the proportion of pure private funds rising. Specifically, the proportion reached 35 percent last year, up 14 percentage points in four years.