[Listed VC Analysis] ⑧ Atinum Investment, Long-Term Unicorn Fostering with Mega Funds

2 Trillion Won AUM, 5 Mega Funds... Maximizing Investment Focus
Specialized Structure by Sector... Tailored Investments in Bio, Deep Tech, Games, and More
Next-Generation Exits Expected from Allganize, HeyDealer, and Others

Editor's Note
The Lee Jaemyung administration has demonstrated a strong commitment to fostering venture businesses. Significant regulatory easing and increased budgets are expected. Venture capital (VC) is drawing attention, as it is anticipated to play a key role in the future process of nurturing ventures. In particular, listed VCs are in the spotlight. These listed VCs previously garnered significant investor interest by reaching all-time highs in 2021, when the venture budget surged. In response, Asia Economy is publishing a series that closely analyzes the strengths and core investment portfolios of major listed VCs.

860 billion won. This is the amount raised for the single fund "Atinum Growth Investment Partnership 2023," established by Atinum Investment (Atinum) in December 2023. Atinum's distinctive "large single fund" strategy, which maximizes efficiency by concentrating investment capabilities on a single large fund until its capital is fully deployed, sets it apart from competitors. All six funds established since 2011 have been mega funds with over 100 billion won in capital, and the scale continues to grow.

Based on this strategy, Atinum identified and invested early in companies such as Dunamu, Kakao Games, Pearl Abyss, and LegoChem Bio, providing follow-on investments until they grew into leading domestic unicorns (unlisted startups valued at over 1 trillion won). Atinum successfully exited these investments at high valuations. As the importance of global strategy increases, Atinum is actively seeking new investment regions, not only in established venture powerhouses but also in emerging markets.

Mega Funds Operated by Sector Representatives to Maximize Efficiency

Atinum is a first-generation VC established in 1988. In 1991, it listed its shares on the over-the-counter market, the predecessor to KOSDAQ. When the KOSDAQ market officially opened in 1996, Atinum was formally listed. The largest shareholder is Atinum Partners (33.08% stake), whose main businesses are real estate leasing and management consulting. The founder and chairman, Lee Minjoo, holds an 85.7% stake in Atinum Partners.

Currently, Atinum operates under a co-CEO system with Shin Kicheon and Lee Seungyong. The company has established a specialized investment structure by appointing sector heads for each investment area: Deep Tech (President Maeng Doojin), Service & Platform (Vice President Kim Jewook), Bio (Vice President Kwak Sanghoon), and Games (Executive Director Park Sangho). This system minimizes staff dispersion and conflicts of interest, building strong trust with anchor funds and private limited partners (LPs). Atinum currently manages five mega funds, with total assets under management (AUM) reaching 2.063 trillion won.

An Atinum official stated, "Based on our large single fund structure, we provide long-term support for startups from the early stage through the growth stage. In a market environment where technological change is rapid and entry barriers are high, we consider the scale of the problem the startup is addressing and the innovativeness of its technology and business model to be the most important factors."

A representative success story in the service and platform sector is Dunamu. Atinum provided initial and follow-on investments, supporting Dunamu's growth. Dunamu now operates Upbit, a virtual asset exchange, and has grown into a unicorn valued at several trillion won. In the gaming sector, Atinum made early investments in Kakao Games and Pearl Abyss, providing additional funding at each growth stage and achieving successful exits. In the bio sector, companies such as LegoChem Bio, Medytox, Celltrion, Olix, and GoBioLab have been nurtured through long-term investments.

Early Discovery of Intocell, HeyDealer... "Expanding Global Investments"

Recently, in the bio sector, Intocell, which Atinum invested in from its Series A stage, succeeded in listing on KOSDAQ. Intocell is a bio company specializing in antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) and has signed technology transfer agreements with companies such as Samsung Bioepis and ABL Bio, leveraging its outstanding technology. On May 23, Intocell closed its first day of trading at 33,200 won, up 95.29% from its IPO price. After exiting its sellable shares, Atinum currently holds a 4.77% stake in Intocell.

In the deep tech sector, autonomous driving startup RideFlux is aiming for a KOSDAQ listing next year. RideFlux was the first in Korea to obtain a permit for unmanned autonomous vehicle trial operation.

In the service and platform sector, PRND Company, which operates the used car trading platform HeyDealer, is drawing attention. HeyDealer launched its service in 2014 and surpassed a cumulative transaction volume of 10 trillion won and 10 million cumulative app downloads in 2023. It has now established itself as the overwhelming number one player in the used car disposal (sell-my-car) market, with a market share exceeding 50%.

Atinum also identified and nurtured the large language model (LLM) company Allganize from the early stages. Allganize provides enterprise lightweight language models and information retrieval-based generative AI services, with bases in Korea, the United States, and Japan, and is pursuing a listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

In the gaming sector, MondayOff and LoadComplete are cited as promising candidates. MondayOff is a publisher specializing in simple yet addictive hyper-casual games, surpassing 200 million cumulative downloads in 2023 and building a global user base. LoadComplete is a game developer with global hits such as Crusaders Quest and Legend of Slime.

Atinum plans to further expand its global investments this year. The company aims to discover companies with high scale-up potential by comprehensively considering market size, technological capabilities, and the competencies of local companies. An Atinum official stated, "The United States and Japan are markets of great size with excellent corporate capabilities, so all of Atinum's divisions are paying close attention to them. We are also actively exploring regions such as Israel, which has outstanding technology startups, as well as Turkiye and China, which are emerging as new hubs for the gaming industry."