[Exclusive] Tony Moly to Proceed with Tony Investment Capital Increase and Maintain Largest Shareholder Status... Yoon Young-min, Song Cheol-hwa, and Kim Seung-dae Join

Full-Scale Entry into New Technology Business Finance... Securing Future Growth Engines
Recruitment of Venture Investment Management Personnel... Solid Venture Capital Growth

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] Tony Moly is accelerating the establishment of its subsidiary, Tony Investment. It plans to complete the registration of a new technology business finance company by conducting additional capital contributions through a paid-in capital increase.

According to industry sources on the 19th, Tony Moly decided to increase Tony Investment's capital to 10 billion KRW and plans to maintain a majority shareholder status by promoting a paid-in capital increase of about half of that amount. It is known that such details will be disclosed as early as this afternoon.

With this, Tony Investment has met the capital requirements to apply for registration as a new technology business finance company under the Specialized Credit Finance Business Act. According to the Act, a new technology business finance company must have a capital of at least 10 billion KRW to be registered. Tony Investment plans to relocate its headquarters to the 4th floor of the Textile Center on Teheran-ro in early June and apply for registration with the Financial Services Commission.

Tony Investment is led by CEO Yoon Young-min. CEO Yoon, recruited under the special directive of Chairman Bae Hae-dong, joined as a founding member of Kolon Investment in 2000 after working at Samsung Economic Research Institute and Samsung Electronics, and served as CEO from 2007 until the end of last year, proving his successful venture investment and fund management capabilities in the industry.

Additionally, they recruited Executive Director Song Cheol-hwa, who has many years of experience in venture investment at Dow Group, Kiwoom Securities, and Kiwoom Investment, and have confirmed the additional recruitment of executive-level officers currently active in domestic mid-sized new technology business finance companies. Including Director Kim Seung-dae, who has over 10 years of venture investment experience at Hyundai Motor Company, the team will start with a total of five operating personnel. This has raised expectations that the newly established company will demonstrate relatively solid team power.

So far, Tony Moly has shown a special interest in venture investment by acquiring AtoGen, a microbiome specialized research company, and investing in PL Group, a pet industry specialized company. Accordingly, with the entry into the new technology business finance sector, it is expected to aggressively invest in startups across a wide range of fields, including healthcare and beauty.

As Tony Moly itself is a representative case of a startup that grew into a mid-sized listed company, it intends to share the know-how of creating something from nothing and collaborate with startups to contribute to building a healthy venture ecosystem.

CEO Yoon Young-min stated, “After receiving the new technology business finance company license, we will be able to start fund formation and venture investment,” and expressed his ambition, saying, “As we have shown in the market over the past 20 years, Tony Investment will grow into a traditional venture capital firm by working closely with numerous startups.”