This article was posted on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 3:50 p.m. on Sep. 19, 2025.
The establishment of organizations dedicated to managing limited partners (LPs) is spreading across domestic venture capital (VC) firms. In the past, such teams were rare and mainly found in large VCs that ran mega venture funds, but recently even small VCs have started building dedicated staff. Some say it has become an essential unit amid difficulties in fundraising.
According to the VC industry on the 19th, Stonebridge Ventures recently hired new staff under its management headquarters to exclusively manage LPs. It was understood that their core duties include maintaining contact with existing LPs such as financial institutions and corporations, while also monitoring rival VCs' fundraising status and expanding the private LP base.
It appears to be the first time Stonebridge Ventures has separately established staff solely for LP management. It is considered a major mid-sized domestic VC listed on the KOSDAQ market with assets under management (AUM) of 1.4 trillion won, but until now the CEO and senior investment executives had maintained a practice of combining fund strategy formulation with LP sourcing.
Smilegate Investment, another representative mid-sized domestic VC alongside Stonebridge Ventures, recently created an investment strategy team solely responsible for LP management. Its main role is also LP sourcing, and it was confirmed that the firm newly hired and placed hires from corporations such as LG and S-Oil who had been in charge of new business development.
Fundraising becoming as difficult as picking a star from the sky has led VCs to build dedicated personnel and organizations. Private LPs such as corporations reduced their allocations to venture funds due to high interest rates and an economic downturn, and even financial institutions like banks, once major backers of VCs, reduced their allocations because of regulations tightening risk-weighted asset (RWA) management.
According to tallies by the Korea Venture Capital Association (VC Association), private sector allocations to venture funds fell to about 8 trillion won last year, a decline of nearly 24% from the previous year. Considering that private LPs' allocations exceeded 14 trillion won in 2022, when the venture investment market boomed amid low interest rates, this represents a decline of more than 6 trillion won.
A VC industry official said, "How large a private LP pool you have before you start fundraising has now become a key competitive advantage," noting, "Even if you are selected as a policy fund manager for the parent fund, you ultimately need to draw in private LP money to form venture funds and earn fees."
There is growing support for the view that demand for personnel dedicated to fundraising will continue to rise. As the government moves to create a large pool of policy funds aimed at revitalizing the venture ecosystem, the number of policy fund managers alone is increasing, creating a structure in which VC competition for a limited pool of private LPs can only intensify.
Given the situation, even small VCs with only about 10 employees companywide are building LP-focused staff. E&Venture Partners and Prologue Ventures are typical examples. These VCs were understood to have recently hired or are recruiting fund planning personnel whose main job is LP management.
Another VC industry official said, "Fundraising personnel who devise new fund formation strategies and source new LPs were once seen as the exclusive domain of large VCs, but the situation has changed," adding, "All VCs are placing dedicated staff so they can meet LPs one more time and communicate more."