The Ministry of SMEs and Startups hosted the '2025 Global Venture Investment Summit in APEC' on the 4th as a related event to the '2025 APEC Ministerial Conference on Small and Medium Enterprises.'
The '2025 Global Venture Investment Summit in APEC,' held at the Jeju International Convention Center, is a global venture investment organization exchange and cooperation event organized in collaboration with the Korea Venture Capital Association and Korea Venture Investment Corporation. A total of 147 organizations with over 250 participants, including 77 overseas institutions from 17 countries and more than 60 domestic investment organizations, participated, making it the largest single event in the history of domestic venture investment.
Government agencies from APEC member countries, overseas venture capital firms, overseas limited partners, and overseas VC associations visited Korea, with significant participation from major global investment firms such as Legend Capital, Vertex Growth, and Asia Alternatives.
A Ministry of SMEs and Startups official noted that this was an opportunity to confirm Korea as a key player in the APEC venture investment ecosystem.
In the first session of the summit, a presentation titled 'Global Market Trends' was conducted by the global asset management company BlackRock and the alternative investment market analysis firm Preqin, followed by a panel discussion on 'APEC Venture Ecosystem Cooperation' featuring APEC regional VCs and LPs in the second session.
In the final session for 'Korean Ecosystem IR,' presentations on investment attraction were held by leading Korean companies such as Rebellions, Musinsa, The Pinkfong Company, and Autonomous A2G, along with a presentation on the Korean listing market by Samsung Securities.
Han Seong-suk, Minister of SMEs and Startups, stated in her welcoming speech, 'APEC serves as a global innovation hub where more than 70% of the world's venture capital investments take place, and this summit is a great opportunity for Korea to leap beyond being a stronghold in advanced manufacturing and IT to become an innovation hub in Asia.' She added, 'I hope that today's event, attended by overseas government agencies and investors, will lead to a stronger partnership between Korea's venture ecosystem and the APEC ecosystem.'
She further revealed, 'Under Korea's goal of becoming one of the 'global top four venture powerhouse' nations, we plan to promote the inflow of venture investment from various private funds, including pension funds, corporations, banks, and individuals, and to expand the government's supply of seed funding.'
She emphasized the globalization of the Korean venture investment market, stating, 'We plan to establish new master funds to attract foreign funds from global financial hubs like Singapore and to create global funds supporting overseas VCs' investments in domestic ventures and startups, aiming to generate more than 1 trillion won annually.'