Venture investment that had flowed to content and e-commerce is shifting to "deep tech," including artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, and Robotics. Unlike in the past, acquisitions of deep-tech startups are happening earlier, and as scarce intellectual property (IP) becomes a source of corporate competitiveness, strategic investment moves are emerging to secure equity from the technology verification stage.
According to the startup industry on the 8th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to review last year's venture investment trends across the top 10 deep-tech sectors. Investment in the top 10 deep-tech sectors in 2024 totaled 3.6 trillion won, up about 34% from the previous year. As interest in deep tech is growing to its highest level since 2020, last year's investment volume is also expected to be tallied.
At one time, e-commerce platforms led the investment boom in the venture ecosystem. But because platform economics concentrate the revenue structure on fees and ads, questions about growth limits and profitability surfaced simultaneously, and there were cases that failed to gain a foothold in the market due to business models without differentiated technology.
In fact, WeMakePrice, once seen as a challenger to Coupang, went bankrupt last year, and Tmon, after undergoing rehabilitation, was acquired by Oasis, a fresh-food dawn delivery specialist corporation, but the timing for resuming normal operations remains distant. BALAAN, a luxury commerce platform corporation that had been valued at around 800 billion won, also received a bankruptcy ruling.
Meanwhile, the government and the private sector have shifted into gear for deep-tech growth. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups is running this year's Deep Tech Challenge Project (DCP) "ecosystem-innovation type." It provides up to 20 billion won in research and development funding per project over four years to teams composed of multiple small and medium venture corporations, investment institutions, universities and research institutes, and large and mid-sized corporations. LG's open innovation platform Superstart has also set out to identify promising deep-tech startups.
On top of this, changes are being seen in the deep-tech investment axiom that "an exit takes at least 10 years." Overseas, there have been cases of investing early or moving to acquire startups in the initial technology verification stage.
U.S. defense AI corporation Anduril Industries acquired autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle (AUV) technology corporation Dive Technologies around four years after its founding in 2022, securing capabilities in underwater autonomous systems.
U.S. industrial automation corporation Rockwell Automation also acquired Clearpath Robotics in 2023 and integrated autonomous mobile robot (AMR) technology into its factory automation strategy. Rather than mature corporations, it moved to secure market leadership by acquiring early- and mid-stage technology corporations.
In Korea, there are also corporations expanding into platforms based on deep-tech competitiveness.
Aerodynamic exterior design corporation AIDRO built the AI design platform "AOX" based on full-vehicle aerodynamic data accumulated during parts development. The industry cites as a growth driver its focus on long-accumulated full-vehicle data and aerodynamic technology, unlike general-purpose platforms. AIDRO posted 16.5 billion won in revenue last year, up 50% from the previous year.
An official in the venture industry said, "In the past, follow-on investments or acquisitions came after the market opened, but now, as securing the lead in technology translates directly into competitiveness, there are more cases of deciding to invest even before commercialization," adding, "In particular, the higher the entry barriers, as in AI and semiconductors, the more intense the competition to secure early equity."