Hyosung Ventures, 100B KRW Fund Management Underway…First Investment in 4 Tech Startups
Hyosung Ventures, the corporate venture capital (CVC) arm of Hyosung Group, has made its first investment in the ‘Startup Korea Fund’.
On the 11th, Hyosung Ventures announced that it had completed two rounds of investments in ▲AI-based new drug discovery company ‘AIGEN Sciences’ ▲e-commerce platform‘Wired Company’▲smart logistics solutions company ‘NearSolution’ ▲convergence security company ‘COONTEC’ each on June 27 and July 10.
This investment was made through the KRW 100 billion ‘Startup Korea Fund’ established by Hyosung Ventures in collaboration with Korea Venture Investment in December last year. The fund sets its sights on deep tech startups in the ‘10 super gap technology’ sectors of ▲Bio/health ▲Eco-friendliness/energy ▲Robots ▲System semiconductors ▲AI ▲Aerospace/ocean ▲Next-generation nuclear power plants ▲Quantum technology.
AIGEN Sciences is an AI-based new drug discovery platform company that can derive new drug candidates within nearly six months through big data analysis. In recognition of its differentiated technological prowess such as generative AI and reinforcement learning, it was selected as the lead entity for the Joint ‘New Drug Discovery Acceleration Project’ organized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Science and ICT last year.
Wired Company operates ‘WIREDY’, a platform for social commerce sellers (social sellers). Integrated support is provided for the entire process from product sourcing to final payment, delivery, and customer service, along with sales volume forecasting services driven by AI. Recently, it has been gaining significant traction for its convenience and efficiency given the ongoing social commerce market expansion.
NearSolution delivers a solution that manages the entire logistics and production operation through AI-based integration. Its advanced functions include work order setting, route optimization, and robot integration, and allow for customization to conform with the existing facility environment. In recognition of such technological prowess, the company has obtained the top technology credit rating, the ‘Technology Value Evaluation’ TI-1 grade, last year.
COONTEC is a convergence security company specializing in operational technology (OT) security and software supply chain security. It has built a strong track record in various industries such as finance, manufacturing, and public sectors, and is fostering a solid reputation for its high growth potential amid the recent trend of security enhancement and digital transformation throughout industries.
A Hyosung Ventures official said, “This investment marks the first step to support startups centered on technology,” and added, “We will continue to discover and support up-and-coming companies in the future and make a difference in revitalizing the domestic deep tech startup ecosystem.”
Meanwhile, in addition to the aforementioned fund, Hyosung Ventures has invested a total of KRW 32 billion in eight companies in the AI, IT, materials, and fintech sectors through the ‘Hyosung CVC Scale-Up New Technology Investment Association No. 1 Fund’ jointly established with the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT).
