[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon]IMM Investment announced on the 11th that it has solely invested 20 billion KRW in Okestro Co., Ltd., a domestic cloud software specialist company, through its Infrastructure No. 9 PEF. This is Okestro's first investment, and the company has been valued at 150 billion KRW just four years after its founding.
Reflecting the recent growth of the cloud market and Okestro, many domestic and international investors showed interest in investing in Okestro; however, considering IMM Investment's unparalleled management capabilities and network, Okestro ultimately decided to form an exclusive partnership with IMM Investment.
IMM Investment is a leading domestic venture investor and a private equity fund manager specializing in infrastructure and enterprises, maintaining an overwhelming No. 1 position in Korea with assets under management (AUM) exceeding 60 trillion KRW in the first half of this year.
Recently, it has been advancing as a global asset manager by opening overseas offices in Japan and Hong Kong to expand its business in Asia. In particular, in the VC sector, it has discovered high-growth companies and provided continuous investment support, nurturing unicorn companies such as Coupang, Woowa Brothers, Krafton, Musinsa, and Zigbang as a financial investor.
Since starting its investment in DreamMarkOne, a domestic carrier-neutral internet data center operator, in 2018, and acquiring management rights of Dreamline, one of Korea's top five mobile carriers, in 2020, IMM Investment has expanded its ICT infrastructure business. Through this recent investment, it plans to actively expand investments in the cloud industry centered on Okestro's cloud platform.
Okestro is a Korean software manufacturer with unique in-house technology in cloud software and AIOps software fields. It develops cloud software necessary for stable operation of mission-critical cloud data centers in public, financial, and private sectors, including the multi-hybrid cloud integrated management platform 'Okestro CMP' (Cloud Management Platform), IaaS solution 'Contrabase,' DevOps solution 'Trombone,' and AIOps solution 'SymphonyAI.' Particularly, in the fields of OpenStack, CMP, and AIOps, Okestro possesses technological competitiveness ahead of global companies, and its growth is remarkable as it recently expanded beyond the domestic market into the global market.
IMM Investment, which made a large-scale strategic sole investment in Okestro, plans to expand its investment portfolio into the cloud market by making substantial bolt-on investments in CSP, MSP, PPP, etc., to maximize Okestro's growth and corporate value. Okestro aims to secure additional sales channels amid the cloud transition trend of portfolio companies previously invested in by IMM Investment and to pursue full-scale global expansion through IMM Investment's global network.
An IMM Investment official stated, "IMM plans to focus its investments on MSP, CSP, and cloud software platforms within the cloud ecosystem, which is a core sector of our infrastructure investments. In particular, the cloud software platform area that Okestro is responsible for is expected to have the highest growth potential within the cloud ecosystem." He added, "We will actively support Okestro to rapidly grow into a unicorn company by expanding investments within the cloud ecosystem centered on Okestro and creating synergies with existing portfolios."
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