This article was published on Sep. 12, 2025, at 1:51 p.m. on ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM).
Venture capital firm SBVA (formerly SoftBank Ventures) is on the verge of raising a large venture fund worth 150 billion won. Thanks in particular to support from Coupang aligned with the government's venture investment revitalization policy, it secured selection as a general partner (GP) in the second regular contribution project of the Korea Venture Investment Corporation and has effectively reached "immediate fund closing."
According to the VC industry on the 12th, SBVA was selected the day before as the GP for the scale-up AI convergence sector of the Next Unicorn Project, beating Lindeman Asia Investment and others in the second contribution project of the mother fund overseen by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. It completed fundraising for the Alpha Korea Sovereign AI Fund, with a minimum closing size of 156.6 billion won.
The Next Unicorn Project is a government-led policy fund injection project to respond to the global artificial intelligence (AI) and deep tech technology competition, and 75 billion won was allocated from the mother fund contribution alone. Before being selected as a mother fund GP, SBVA had already secured 75 billion won in private matching funds, meeting the closing conditions upon selection.
Coupang's support for SBVA was key. Coupang agreed to take responsibility for the entirety of SBVA's private matching funds. In particular, during the Korea Venture Investment Corporation's GP selection review process, Coupang issued a 75 billion won letter of commitment (LOC), which helped bolster SBVA.
A VC industry official said, "This second regular contribution project was so demanding that many large firms gave up participating despite requests from the Korea Venture Investment Corporation, because it carried a condition of closing by the end of the year," adding, "SBVA gained a clear advantage in terms of likelihood of closing thanks to Coupang's help."
SBVA started in 2000 as a VC under the SoftBank Group and has reportedly maintained steady ties with Coupang, which counts SoftBank as a major shareholder. SBVA's largest shareholder is The Edgeof, an investment company led by Son Tae-jang Mistletoe, the brother of SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son.
Analysts say Coupang's move includes political calculations. With platform regulation and fair trade issues making relationship management with the government important, contributions that align with the new government's policy emphasis on revitalizing venture investment are seen as a strategic choice to mitigate regulatory risks and secure political stability.
In fact, the day before, coinciding with SBVA's GP selection for the Next Unicorn Project's scale-up AI convergence sector, Coupang released materials titled "Coupang joins the government to create an 'AI unicorn'." In those materials, Coupang cited "policy cooperation with the government" and "participation in co-prosperity with small merchants" as reasons for the investment decision.
A VC industry official said, "Considering that Coupang and the mother fund are each contributing to SBVA's fund, this contribution is far from Coupang and the government jointly creating a unicorn," adding, "in particular, the Alpha Korea Sovereign AI Fund is a blind fund, and investments are the exclusive authority of the GP, SBVA."
SBVA plans to invest more than 60% of the Alpha Korea Sovereign AI Fund in deep tech corporations such as AI startups, system semiconductors, bio and health, future mobility, and robotics. In addition, including follow-on investments, it plans to make substantial investments of at least 10 billion won per startup.
Some predict SBVA, backed by Coupang, will expand the fund size. After the initial closing of the 156.6 billion won Alpha Korea Sovereign AI Fund including GP contributions, if it pursues additional fundraising next year, creating a large fund of more than 200 billion won would be entirely possible.
SBVA said, "Only a minimum closing size was specified for the Alpha Korea Sovereign AI Fund and there is no hard cap, so the fund size could be increased if additional fundraising is pursued," but added, "we have just received the GP selection result and nothing has been decided yet."