The National Pension Service (NPS) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on investment cooperation with major Silicon Valley venture capital firms (VCs) in the United States, including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital.
The National Pension Service (NPS) said on the 25th (local time) that it signed an MOU on investment cooperation with major global venture capital firms based in Silicon Valley at the "Silicon Valley venture investment meetup" held in San Francisco.
As of the day, the six venture capital firms with which the National Pension Service signed MOUs have a total assets under management (AUM) of $313 billion (about 450 trillion won). Through the MOUs, the National Pension Service plans to build long-term cooperation channels and pursue the identification of global venture investment opportunities and the revitalization of market information exchange.
The six venture capital firms are Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, General Catalyst, and New Enterprise Associates.
Earlier, on the 24th, the government met with Big Tech locally to promote investment in Korean startups and support their entry onto the global stage. The signing ceremony was then pursued at a meeting the next day with leading global venture investment firms.
Among the venture capital firms attending, Sequoia Capital made early investments in Apple, Nvidia, and Google, and Andreessen Horowitz invested in Instagram, Meta, and Anduril. Khosla Ventures also made an early investment in OpenAI.
In particular, Andreessen Horowitz recently opened an office in Korea.
The National Pension Service views expanding venture investments not as short-term fund deployment but as a strategic task to be pursued from a long-term perspective.
Accordingly, based on cooperative relationships with local venture capital firms, it plans to closely review investment opportunities, market conditions, and risk factors and gradually expand investments.
Meanwhile, at a roundtable co-hosted with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups following the MOU signing, participants exchanged broad views on global and Silicon Valley venture investment trends, comparisons of the U.S.-Korea venture investment environments, and ways to strengthen cooperation between the two countries' venture ecosystems.
Kim Sung-joo, chair of the National Pension Service (NPS), said, "Centering on the San Francisco office, we have continuously expanded our touchpoints with the local venture capital ecosystem, and this MOU will serve as a catalyst to develop those networks into practical cooperative relationships," adding, "Going forward, under the principle of managing the public's valuable assets for long-term stability, the National Pension Service will gradually expand overseas venture investment opportunities and do its utmost to diversify investments and boost returns."