'Korea VC Awards 2024' Concludes... Six Firms Including SBVA Selected as 'VC of the Year'

Awards in 7 Categories Including VC of the Year and Best Investment Officer

Korea Venture Investment Corp. selected six fund managers, including SBVA, as the ‘VCs of the Year’ at the ‘Korea VC Awards 2024.’

On the 4th, Korea Venture Investment Corp. announced, “We held the ‘Korea VC Awards 2024’ today to share the performance of the Korea Fund of Funds and to honor outstanding venture capitalists (VCs) and contributors who have helped develop the innovative venture ecosystem.”

Shinsanghan, Acting CEO of Korea Venture Investment, is delivering a greeting at the 'Korea VC Awards 2024' held on the 4th at Signiel Seoul in Songpa-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Daehyun

Now in its 15th year, the ‘Korea VC Awards 2024’ recognizes fund of funds managers, operating personnel, and contributors to the activation of the venture ecosystem, while also serving as a networking event connecting limited partners (LPs) and VCs. Approximately 180 people from related Korea Fund of Funds institutions, major LPs, and VCs attended the event.

The awards ceremony covered seven categories: ▲VC of the Year (Large, Medium, Small) ▲Best Investment Officer ▲Best Management Personnel ▲Best Fund (Liquidated) ▲Investment Company of the Year ▲Special Award ▲Contributions to Venture Ecosystem Activation. The awards were presented by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Korean Intellectual Property Office, and Korea Venture Investment Corp.

In the Large VC of the Year category, the Minister of SMEs and Startups Award went to SBVA, which changed its name from SoftBank Ventures this year. The CEO Commendation from Korea Venture Investment Corp. was awarded to Stick Ventures, which continued steady investments despite weakening venture investment growth momentum.

In the Medium VC of the Year category, the Minister of SMEs and Startups Award was given to Knet Investment Partners for successfully liquidating the ‘Knet Cultural Contents Specialized Investment Association.’ The CEO Commendation went to Suin Investment, a VC established by SMEs that demonstrated excellent exit performance.

In the Small VC of the Year category, the Minister of SMEs and Startups Award was presented to P&Pinvestment, which showed solid investment and exit performance based on expertise in patents and semiconductors. The CEO Commendation was awarded to CN Venture Partners, a startup incubator with outstanding exit results.

For the Best Investment Officer category, the Minister of SMEs and Startups Award went to Jaeho Cho, Managing Director at Shinhan Venture Investment, who participated as the lead investor in ‘APR’ and achieved the best exit performance this year. The Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Award was given to Dongjun Lee, Executive Director at Gaia Venture Partners, who has invested over 100 billion KRW cumulatively in cultural contents. The Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office Award was presented to Jungnyeon Kim, Vice President at Paratus Investment, who formed and manages the largest-ever patent fund under the Korea Fund of Funds.

In the Best Management Personnel category, awarded to risk managers demonstrating outstanding crisis management skills, the honor went to Kyung Lee, Director at Union Investment Partners.

The Best Fund award went to Knet Investment Partners’ Knet Cultural Contents Specialized Investment Association (Lead Fund Manager: Daeyoung Kim), a cultural account liquidation association that achieved record-high performance. For the Special Award, given by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism to fund managers with excellent investment performance in the cultural contents sector, Knet Investment Partners was also recognized for the same reason. The Investment Company of the Year was awarded to Exina, a company developing AI data processing and acceleration essential memory chips and Compute Express Link (CXL)-based memory solutions.

Additionally, the Contributions to Venture Ecosystem Activation award was given to Eunhee Park, Deputy General Manager at Industrial Bank of Korea; Kyungyong Lee, Director at Korea Federation of SMEs; and Sooyoung Cha, Team Leader at NH Nonghyup Bank, for their active support in fund formation and investments in SMEs and venture companies, contributing to the activation of venture investment.

Shin Sanghan, Acting CEO of Korea Venture Investment Corp., said, “We thank the startups who have taken bold and endless challenges toward innovation and the venture investors who have trusted and supported them. The Korea Fund of Funds will do its best to serve as a reliable beacon illuminating the venture investment market together with VCs and related institutions, the core pillars of the venture investment ecosystem.”