The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Oh Young-joo, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups) announced on the 29th that 79 investment companies from around the world applied for the establishment of a global fund targeting overseas venture capital in 2025, recording a competition rate of approximately 6:1 based on the investment budget (KRW 170 billion).
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups, through Korea Venture Investment, announced the Global Fund investment in early March of this year and received applications and applications from domestic and foreign venture capitals until the end of April. The Global Fund is a project that has been in operation since 2013, in which the mother fund invests in funds operated by excellent overseas venture capitals and obliges them to invest in Korean companies in amounts exceeding the mother fund investment amount.
As of now, 73 funds around the world are operating funds with a total scale of 12.2 trillion won, and 645 Korean venture and startups have received investments of 1.3 trillion won, contributing to the birth of global unicorns such as Toss, Carrot Market, and Rebellion.
This year, the Global Fund has expanded its investment scale and diversified its investment fields by ▲ increasing its investment budget to KRW 170 billion, the largest ever, ▲ expanding the fund investment limit to a maximum of USD 50 million, and ▲ establishing new fields such as AI, climate tech, and secondary fields, in accordance with the ‘Advanced Venture Investment Market Leap Forward Plan’ announced in October of last year.
As a result of the application and reception, a total of 79 investment companies applied, and the total formation amount submitted by each applicant was approximately USD 13.5 billion (approximately KRW 18 trillion), and the investment request amount was approximately USD 716 million (approximately KRW 1 trillion), recording a competition rate of approximately 6:1 based on the investment budget (KRW 170 billion).
By sector, a total of 60 funds applied for the general sector, resulting in a competition rate of approximately 5.8:1, while a total of 19 funds applied for the AI, climate tech, and secondary sectors newly established this year, resulting in a competition rate of approximately 6:1.
In particular, the participation of global venture capitals in new fields appears to reflect the expansion of large-scale investment in the global AI technology field, the future growth potential of the climate tech industry, and the investment value of Korean startups.
By region, 28 venture capitals from the US, 27 from Asia, 17 from Europe, 5 from China (including Hong Kong), and 2 from the Middle East applied. Among them, global fund applications were high among local venture capitals in the US and Asia, where global venture investment is active and domestic startups have high demand for entry.
In the future, Korea Venture Investment will conduct document screening and on-site inspections in June to evaluate the applicant's fund management capabilities, fund formation potential, and contribution to Korean investment, and select a global fund management company through the Investment Review Committee in July. The selected management company will proceed with fund formation starting in December of this year.
Kim Bong-deok, director of venture policy, said, “Global funds can be a great opportunity for domestic ventures and startups to expand overseas, not only because they attract investment, but also because they connect with the investment networks of global investment firms.” He added, “We will continue to fully support the overseas investment attraction and global expansion of our ventures and startups by raising a global fund worth more than 1 trillion won every year.”
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