Venture capital (VC) firm Atinum Investment will launch new fundraising next year. The utilization rate of its 860 billion won mega-fund registered in Sep. 2023 has topped 60%. In particular, it has delivered early exit results in areas such as K-beauty and biotech, and has already distributed a cumulative 180 billion won.
On the 23rd, according to the VC industry, Atinum Investment recently finalized plans to set up a follow-on fund to "Atinum Growth Fund 2023" and decided to resume fundraising next year. It is understood to have also hired a dedicated overseas fundraising professional who previously worked at Vertex Holdings, a subsidiary of Singapore sovereign wealth funds Temasek.
Atinum Growth Fund 2023 is regarded as the largest fund not only at Atinum Investment, which pursues a so-called "one-fund strategy," but also in Korea's VC industry. It was formed at 794.2 billion won in Sep. 2023 and later increased to 860 billion won. That is 56% larger than the previous record-holder, "Atinum Growth Investment Fund 2020" (550 billion won).
Swift investing led to the decision to kick off fundraising for the next fund next year. Within a year of formation, it invested in about 30 corporations, spending more than 23% of the capital, and as of Dec. this year it has used 60%. Since inception, it has conducted three capital calls, reportedly receiving 516 billion won.
Earlier, the market voiced concerns about unused capital. The firm drew up its fund formation plan in 2021, when the venture investment market was booming, and created a mega-fund, but the market soon contracted due to high interest rates and an economic downturn. Concerns about sluggish deal execution spread to fears of delayed exits and a pullback in commitments to VCs.
Atinum Investment's divisional head system became the driving force behind its investment pace. Upon forming the fund, the company established four divisions—deep tech (President Maeng Do-jin), service/platform (Executive Vice President Kim Je-uk), biotech (Executive Vice President Gwak Sang-hun), and games/content (Senior Managing Director Park Sang-ho)—to cement a division-based investment execution structure.
Concerns about unused capital appear to be turning into expectations. Atinum Investment has accelerated investing by actively sourcing overseas venture corporations. Even compared with the typical eight-year fund life cycle—investing for four years after formation and exiting over the following four years—Atinum Investment's pace of capital deployment is fast.
Some portfolio companies have already completed capital returns. A prime example is Craver Corporation, operator of the K-beauty brand "SKIN1004," in which about 5 billion won was invested in the fund's first year. When Goodai Global acquired Craver Corporation last year, Atinum Investment recouped four times its principal.
Atinum Investment also hit a so-called blockbuster exit with its investment in G2GBIO, a biotech developing long-acting drugs. After listing on the KOSDAQ market in Aug., the share price steadily trended upward, and within a month the market capitalization topped 1 trillion won. The market cap at listing was only about 310 billion won.
Atinum Investment has reportedly already distributed 180 billion won to limited partners such as the National Pension Service (NPS), Korea Development Bank, and IBK Industrial Bank of Korea. About two years and three months after the fund's formation, it has distributed about 20.93% of the committed aggregates, with a distribution rate of about 34% versus the actual investment received via capital calls.
Some observers say Atinum Investment could form a fund exceeding 1 trillion won. Since establishing its one-fund strategy in 2011, it has set new records with every fundraising. In fact, the fund size grew to 350 billion won in 2017, 550 billion won in 2020, and 860 billion won in 2023.
Investor interest is also high. As securing liquidity becomes more important, there is a growing trend of using "distributions to paid-in capital" (DPI) as a key metric that reflects actual cash returns rather than internal rate of return (IRR). Atinum Investment recorded a DPI of 0.35 two years and three months after the fund's formation.
A representative of Atinum Investment said, "By rigorously constructing our portfolio and managing exit timing, we focus not on simply quick exits but on capturing the optimal moment to realize value," adding, "We will continue to establish ourselves as a long-term partner trusted by both our limited partners and our portfolio corporations."