This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 2:44 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2025.
Venture capital (VC) IMM Investment succeeded in forming a new venture investment fund for the second straight year. Following the Venture Investment Division 1 at the end of 2024, the Venture Investment Division 2 created a new 150 billion won venture investment fund at the end of 2025. IMM Investment secured more than 500 billion won in investment capital in two years.
According to the VC industry on the 31st, IMM Investment held a formation meeting for a new venture investment fund on Dec. 30 and established the "IMM Startup Venture Fund No. 2." It came about seven months after being selected in May as a general partner (GP) for the 2025 Innovation Industry Fund investment program and securing Korea Development Bank as the anchor limited partner (LP).
IMM Startup Venture Fund No. 2 was formed with a total of 150 billion won. After being selected as a GP for the Innovation Industry Fund, it secured investment one after another from the Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives (KFCC), Korea Scientists & Engineers Mutual-aid Association, Korea Telecommunications Operators Association (KTOA), Dcamp, and Military Mutual Aid Association, expanding the fund to 1.5 times the minimum formation amount (100 billion won).
Analysts said IMM Investment's integrated strategy for its venture investment groups paid off. IMM Investment, which had pursued a group-based multi-fund management strategy, carried out a major organizational restructuring at the end of 2023 to consolidate and rebuild its five separate venture investment groups into two divisions with the goal of concentrating investment capabilities.
The integration strategy immediately drew attention from the market, including LPs. As so-called star investment managers with strong exit records were largely folded into the divisional structure, wins in investment mandates followed. A prime example is the Venture Investment Division 1's "IMM Growth Venture Fund No. 2," which closed its first round at the end of 2024 and was formed at 381.5 billion won in Jan. 2025.
LPs were also said to have given high marks to exit performance centered on star investment managers in the IMM Startup Venture Fund No. 2 commitment. Executive Vice President Moon Yeo-jeong, Korea's first physician-turned-investment manager who discovered Lunit and Orum Therapeutics, serves as the lead fund manager, with President Jeong Il-bu named as a key investment professional.
President Jeong Il-bu is CEO of IMM Investment and oversees the venture investment institutional sector. Jeong delivered early discoveries of promising corporations such as 42dot, FuriosaAI, EcoPro, and Gentle Monster. In addition, Managing Director Kim Geum-dong, who has led early-stage funds, also joined as a key investment professional.
IMM Investment set AI and deep tech, biotech and healthcare, and the consumer institutional sector as the primary targets for IMM Startup Venture Fund No. 2. It will allocate 35%, 35%, and 30% to each institutional sector, focus on early-stage investments at Series A and B, and pursue early exits by making some follow-on investments in the portfolio.
Some say the formation of IMM Startup Venture Fund No. 2 completes an investment structure that spans from early to late stage and includes secondary. The company also formed the 125 billion won "IMM Secondary Venture Fund No. 6" in May 2024, before the formation of IMM Growth Venture Fund No. 2.
An industry source in the VC sector said, "IMM Investment leveraged the exit records of its key investment managers to sweep major investment mandates in 2025," adding, "It raised the entire minimum formation amount in about half a year after securing an anchor LP, and I understand it plans to raise additional capital in 2026 to expand the fund size to around 200 billion won."