[VC Now] ⑤ Fast Ventures "The Courage to Go Against the Grain... Creating a 'Unicorn VC'"

Interview with Park Ji-woong, CEO of Fast Ventures
Expanding Investment Areas Despite Industry Downturn in Content, Games, Bio, and Healthcare

Editor's NoteVenture capital (VC) nurtures early-stage companies that will become the pillars of future industries at the forefront of the capital market. Although the VC industry is experiencing a downturn due to the global economic recession and high interest rates, efforts to identify and grow promising companies continue unabated. Asia Economy meets a variety of investment firms, from large-scale VCs with accumulated experience and know-how to emerging VCs, to hear about their investment strategies and stories.

Lounge at Fast Five Yeoksam 3 Branch in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, where Fast Ventures is located. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

"Even if you run a flour-based food franchise, doing it differently from others becomes 'innovation.' If you go against what the majority thinks, there lies an opportunity. Betting on minority opinions is the destiny of venture capital (VC)."

Asia Economy recently met Park Ji-woong, CEO of Fast Ventures, at Fast Five Yeoksam 3rd branch in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. After working as an investment analyst at Stonebridge Capital, he left and participated in establishing Fast Track Asia. We heard about his background for returning to the VC industry and his future investment strategy.

Fast Ventures is a VC established in 2019 as a subsidiary specializing in early-stage company investments under Fast Track Asia. The combined value of companies created so far by Fast Track Asia, such as the shared office platform Fast Five and the education startup Day One Company, exceeds 800 billion KRW.

"Uncertainty is just an excuse"... Focusing on the potential of individual companies

Although the capital market has stagnated due to global high interest rates, the recession has instead presented new opportunities for Fast Ventures.

CEO Park said, "In 2021, when the investment market was active, company valuations (stock price levels relative to corporate value) were high. Now, in a recession, it's the opposite. However, the quality of founding teams is the same as before. Smart and ambitious people do not decide to start a business based on timing or interest rates." He also emphasized, "Therefore, you have to move contrary to the psychology of ordinary people. If the quality is the same but you can invest at a cheaper price, now is the time to invest." This is why Fast Ventures maintained the number of invested companies at around 20 last year, as in previous years, and expanded its investment scope to companies in new fields that it had not previously focused on.

Fast Ventures has started investing not only in internet and software & services but also in content, gaming, and bio-healthcare sectors. CEO Park said, "The number of unicorns (unlisted companies valued at over 1 trillion KRW) and the scale of recovered investments in internet & software services, gaming & content, bio-healthcare, and manufacturing sectors are roughly similar. Many VC investment managers have often avoided the gaming sector, citing the need for 'specialized knowledge' or 'lack of understanding.' However, companies like Krafton, NC, Nexon, and Pearl Abyss emerged from this sector. The same goes for bio-healthcare, with companies like Celltrion. When VC investments decreased last year, we saw an opportunity as a new entrant investor," he emphasized.

Recently, Fast Ventures participated in investing in Actnova, a startup manufacturing material inspection, measurement, and analysis instruments. Actnova developed 'Actbus,' a software-as-a-service (SaaS) that provides behavioral monitoring of non-clinical trial animal models using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. They recently participated in a 3.3 billion KRW pre-Series A round alongside Hana Ventures and A Ventures. CEO Park explained, "New drug development experiments are conducted on animals before humans. Until now, doctors had to continuously watch videos to check dosing results, but Actbus patterns animal movements and provides information."

They also participated in a 5.5 billion KRW Series A+ investment round for bio-venture Nexsera. CEO Park said, "Previously, patients had to receive regular injections under the eye to treat ophthalmic diseases like macular degeneration, but with Nexsera's technology, treatment will be possible in a 'non-invasive' way, like taking a pill, without penetrating the skin." The investment funds will be used for the US clinical trials and research and development of NT101, a wet macular degeneration eye drop treatment.

In the robotics sector, they invested in Robovetical, which develops high-rise building exterior cleaning robot services. CEO Park said, "This investment was made in a situation where many robot startups are emerging. Usually, cleaning the exterior of high-rise buildings is done by people descending from the rooftop on ropes to clean windows, which is considered a dangerous job risking lives." He added, "When thinking about what robots will replace first, I believe they will replace tasks that people absolutely do not want to do or that are dangerous."

Jiwung Park, CEO of Fast Ventures. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

The VC industry returns... "We will go as much as possible against the majority"

We asked about the background of his return to venture investment after actively working on the startup frontlines. He replied, "The companies we directly invested in could become trillion-won companies, but we also judged that Fast Ventures itself could become a unicorn as a startup."

Currently, Fast Ventures' office is located in Fast Five's shared office, like many other startups. Recently, they expanded internal staff, including partners, which is a different trend from other VCs. CEO Park explained, "Usually, startups try to solve problems and shortcomings of existing companies in each industry. So they think and act differently." He added, "VC is also a financial industry. While the scope of creativity may not be as broad as in other industries, we want to try to operate the business differently from the existing large VCs' ways and growth models as much as possible."

This is also why internal discussions for investment decisions are inevitably intense. CEO Park said, "There are hardly any cases where opinions align. For VCs investing in early-stage companies, internal disagreement is the default." He continued, "You cannot say that investment results are usually better when opinions differ or when they agree. Ultimately, what matters is how long people who think it will succeed and those who think it won't can persistently express their views."

He added, "However, we have started to pay more attention to whether additional funding can be secured in the next round. It takes about three years to generate sales, and when liquidity was abundant in the past, there was market confidence that 'someone will invest next.' Now, there is an added discussion about how to adjust business plans in relation to the company, management, and the changed macroeconomic environment."

Finally, when asked about sectors to watch in the future, CEO Park said, "Some trends or innovations are created by founders. I believe the investor's choice comes next. Rather than focusing on specific trends or keywords, I always try to think and act freshly like a startup."