‘Daekwang Geonyeong VC’ DK Investment Partners, a New Start as Mobidic Ventures

Daekwang Geonyeong drops 'DK (Daekwang)' for 'Moby Dick' identity
Sharp focus on PropTech through 'DK Startup Plus Investment Union No.1'

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] DK Investment Partners, a venture capital (VC) firm established by mid-sized construction company Daekwang Geonyeong, has emerged in the industry and is making a fresh start with a new name. Attention is focused on its future investment activities.

According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 26th, DK Investment Partners recently changed its name to Moby Dick Ventures. It removed ‘DK (Daekwang)’ associated with its parent company Daekwang Geonyeong and adopted ‘Moby Dick’ as its identity. Moby Dick is the title of a novel by American author Herman Melville and also refers to a giant white sperm whale.

Moby Dick Ventures is a venture capital firm established by Daekwang AMC, a real estate development company known for the apartment brand ‘Rosebian’. It has a paid-in capital of 3 billion KRW, meeting the requirements for establishing a startup investment company. Daekwang AMC is a real estate development company owned by Cho Young-hoon, Vice Chairman of Daekwang Geonyeong.

Mid-sized construction company Daekwang Geonyeong started as Daekwang Construction in 1994 and was re-established as Daekwang Geonyeong in 2002. Its core affiliates are Daekwang Geonyeong and Daekwang AMC. The company is expanding its portfolio, which had been focused on apartment construction and real estate development and implementation, into the financial sector.

A representative example is the acquisition of Daehan Savings Bank in 2019. Daekwang Geonyeong holds 52.17% and Daekwang AMC holds 21.43% of Daehan Savings Bank’s shares. Upon acquiring Daehan Savings Bank, Daekwang Geonyeong introduced a professional management system and began independent operations. The venture investment entry is interpreted in the same context.

The current head of Moby Dick Ventures is CEO Song Moon-kyu. CEO Song previously worked as the head of the Planning and Coordination Headquarters at Hancom Group, leading Hancom’s acquisition and merger (M&A) of Sancheong and the SPAC listing of Hancom Unimax. He also served as CEO when Hancom established Hancom Investment in 2018.

After applying for startup investment company approval last year, Moby Dick Ventures formed the ‘DK Startup Plus Investment Association No.1’ with a total commitment amount of approximately 9.4 billion KRW through funds from Daekwang Geonyeong affiliates. Currently, investments are being made mainly through this fund. In the future, the fund names are expected to include ‘Moby Dick’ instead of ‘DK’.

The main investment areas are the 4th industrial revolution sectors. They are focusing intensively on artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, Internet of Things (IoT), AR·VR, and digital healthcare. They are also exploring the proptech (real estate + technology) sector, which is expected to have synergy with their core business.

The portfolio secured so far includes ▲RNA interference (RNAi) new drug development company ‘Enhanced Bio’ ▲eco-friendly material development startup ‘Roots Lab’ ▲kitchen operation service Outnow operator ‘Wave Lifestyle Tech’ ▲shopping mall integrated management platform ‘Bflow’ as representative examples.