KB Investment has made a new investment in a fruit variety intellectual property (IP) operator.
On the 10th, according to the venture capital (VC) industry, KB Investment recently participated in a new fundraising round by fruit IP operator H&B Asia, investing 10 billion won.
Including investment funds from KB Financial Group affiliates, KB Investment has become the second-largest shareholder after founder and CEO Kim Hee-jung.
H&B Asia started in 2006 as a fruit distribution company based on IP for new fruit varieties known as so-called "club varieties." It was founded by Kim, the first head of the Korea office of New Zealand kiwi company Zespri.
The company imports newly developed varieties from overseas and cultivates and sells them domestically through company-run farms and partnerships with growers. It currently holds IP for 58 fruit varieties, including "Envy apple."
KB Investment is said to have highly valued the potential for agriculture to shift to a high value-added IP industry. The judgment was that it has built a stable revenue structure based on IP in the form of plant variety protection rights.
A KB Investment official said, "In agricultural powerhouses such as the United States, New Zealand, and China, agriculture models based on club varieties are already spreading rapidly."