The Ventures , an early-stage startup investment firm, announced on the 18th that it has appointed a new Chief Investment Officer (CIO), Yeo-Jun Cho, to expand global investment and enhance its internal review system.
Through this appointment, The Ventures plans to strengthen its connection with the global startup ecosystem and expand its foundation for establishing and executing proactive investment strategies.
CIO Cho Yeo-jun graduated from Seoul National University’s Department of Business Administration and completed an MBA at Columbia University. He then worked at Qualcomm Ventures and KB Investment in early and growth-stage startups. Afterwards, he was in charge of key practices for Google Play partnerships at Google Korea, leading collaborations with various companies, and as a partner at Fast Ventures, he has been communicating closely with the domestic and international startup ecosystems.
At The Ventures, CIO Cho will enhance the founder-centered evaluation system, oversee the operation of the evaluation organization, and proactive investment discovery and execution. He will also provide strategic advice and support for follow-up plans for growth to portfolio companies preparing to enter the global market.
The Ventures completed its venture capital (VC) registration with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups in 2021, becoming the third domestic organization to simultaneously possess accelerator (AC) and VC qualifications. It operates a continuous investment structure from the initial discovery to the growth stage, and has built a model that connects strategic design through close support for founders to VC investment.
Global investment activities are also being actively carried out. Southeast Asia is set as a major growth base, and preemptively invested in local startups including Vietnam's Plum AI. It is expanding its portfolio in various fields such as content, manufacturing, and AI. In North America, it is focusing on the B2C consumer goods sector by securing more than 20 portfolio companies, and is also in the process of establishing an offshore fund in the US.
Meanwhile, The Ventures is also running a scout program to discover early-stage deep tech startups in collaboration with major U.S. universities such as UC Berkeley and the University of Illinois, as well as domestic universities.
Representative portfolios include HeyDealer, Gbike, Fruits Family, Pnasier, Motif Drive, and Trillion Labs.
Kim Chul-woo, CEO of The Ventures, said, “The Ventures has focused on strengthening execution capabilities rather than expanding its external appearance,” and “This appointment of a CIO will be an opportunity to enhance our accumulated investment execution capabilities and accelerate our global strategy.”
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