"Industry's First Fashion and Beauty Dedicated Fund" Signite Partners Forms 'Atelier Investment Association' with KDB Capital

Signite's Largest Fund Worth 56 Billion Won
Aiming to Focus Investments on Fashion, Beauty, and Tech

Shinsegae Group's venture capital firm Signite Partners and Korea Development Bank Capital (San-eun Capital) announced on the 7th that they will establish the ‘Shinsegae-KDBC Atelier Investment Association’ with a scale of 56 billion KRW.

This is the largest fund formed by Signite Partners to date, with Signite Partners and San-eun Capital serving as co-general partners (CO-GP). Major investors include Woori Bank, Seoul City, Shinsegae, Shinsegae International, and SSG.com.

The Atelier Investment Association is the industry's first dedicated fashion and beauty fund, focusing investments on fashion, beauty, and tech sectors. Its goal is to maximize the value of invested companies by supporting the global expansion of brands. It also plans to invest in tech companies possessing digital transformation technologies that have enabled the global growth of K-brands, thereby participating in the overall industry's growth process and enhancing the value of invested companies.

The recent increase in globally recognized K-fashion and beauty brands, along with the rise of brand intellectual property (IP) businesses as high value-added sectors, served as the impetus for establishing this fund.

Signite Partners and San-eun Capital have segmented investment strategies by industry to maximize the returns of the Atelier Investment Association. In beauty, they invest in companies developing medical-grade products such as fillers, skin boosters, and aesthetic laser devices, which are emerging strengths of K-beauty, as well as functional beauty device companies, beauty tech firms, and raw material developers.

In fashion, investments target brands with strengths in large and high-growth market categories and fashion tech companies possessing unique technologies. In digital tech, the plan is to invest in companies with e-commerce, data analytics, and automation technologies, as well as businesses that can optimize the value chain of the beauty and fashion industries, and those involved in digital transformation and automation of import-export operations.

Meanwhile, San-eun Capital, the co-GP, is a first-generation domestic venture capital firm that began venture investment operations in 1984. Leveraging extensive investment experience and diverse financial products, it plays a leading role in fostering innovative ventures and startups. Through the establishment of the Atelier Investment Association, it has expanded its investment scope to include the brand industry centered on fashion and beauty as next-generation growth industries.

Signite Partners, a venture capital firm established by Shinsegae Group in July 2020, is funded 50% by Shinsegae International, 30% by Shinsegae Department Store, and 20% by Central City. It was founded to contribute to creating an industrial ecosystem where large corporations and startups coexist and develop, and to secure future growth engines through investments in promising domestic and international startups. Signite Partners has formed a total of six funds, including the Atelier Investment Association, managing over 200 billion KRW and investing across various business sectors.