Korea Venture Investment Corporation said on the 27th that it held the Mother Fund Future Strategy Forum at Sofitel Ambassador Seoul in Songpa-gu, Seoul, with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.
The forum was arranged to explore the future role and direction of the mother fund to leap into the world's top four venture powerhouses and to discuss growth strategies for innovative ventures and Start - Up in AI, biotech, and deep tech.
The forum was attended by the heads of major research institutes, including the Capital Market Research Institute, the Korea SMEs & Startups Institute (KOSI), and the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), as well as global asset management institutions, venture capital, Start - Up, and academic experts.
The first session dealt in depth with ways to strengthen the mother fund's role as a venture investment platform. Participants shared global pension funds' venture ecosystem investment strategies and discussed ways to apply them to the domestic market to enhance venture investment competitiveness. They also reaffirmed that a virtuous cycle in which private capital such as pension funds and foreign capital flows in and the mother fund's investment, exit, and reinvestment follow is key to building a sustainable venture ecosystem.
There was also an opinion that the mother fund should strengthen its role as a platform for regional economies through venture investment outside the Seoul metropolitan area. Participants agreed that investment centered on regionally specialized companies can become momentum for regional economic recovery and job creation.
In the second session, AI and deep tech, and biotech corporations participated to discuss ways to foster future strategic industries that will lead the growth of domestic innovative ventures and Start - Up. Participants reviewed the domestic level of AI and deep tech technology and the global competitive environment, and noted the roles of the government and the mother fund to secure future competitiveness. In particular, given the characteristics of AI and deep tech corporations that require large-scale funding over a long period, there was consensus that the mother fund should play the role of "patient capital."
There was also a view that large-scale, focused investment should be supported at each growth stage from the startup stage to scale-up. The point was that ventures and Start - Up should be backed so they can grow into unicorns leading the global market amid accelerating competition for global technological supremacy.
Lee Dae-hee, head of Korea Venture Investment Corporation, said, "Based on the successful model of the mother fund, the domestic venture investment market has continued to grow," and added, "To foster a 40 trillion won annual venture investment market, a national policy task, we will redefine the role of the mother fund and flesh out strategies centered on innovative ventures and Start - Up."