Kakao Ventures, Which Raised Unicorns, Invested 14 Billion KRW Last Year... "Continuing Investment in Early-Stage Startups"

Produced Unicorn Rebellion and Listed Company Shift Up

Kakao Ventures, a venture capital firm specializing in the very early stage, announced its investment trends and new year investment directions for 2024 on the 14th.

Last year, the total number of investments was 21 deals amounting to 14 billion KRW. New investments totaled approximately 12 billion KRW, distributed across 16 companies in the service (6 deals), deep tech (4 deals), digital healthcare (3 deals), and gaming (3 deals) sectors. In the service sector, attention was given to teams addressing social changes and demands through ICT-based solutions, such as cross-generational vocational education platforms and virtual idol producers. In deep tech, investments were made in teams with AI scalability, including AI agents and semiconductor fields. Digital healthcare investments focused on robotics and medical equipment, while the gaming sector targeted subculture and casual games, emerging as new growth engines.

Infographic of Kakao Ventures' 2024 Investment Trends. Provided by Kakao Ventures

Among the new investments, Kakao Ventures was the first institutional investor in 14 companies. By investment stage, seed rounds accounted for the majority with 14 companies, while pre-Series A and Series A stages each had one company. Despite the frozen market conditions and a sharp decline in venture capital investments, Kakao Ventures continued both new and follow-up investments.

It was a fruitful year thanks to the establishment of a researcher network in the United States. Representative examples include FS2, a semiconductor technology company composed of a research team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Kompass, a MedTech company based in Chicago, USA; and Magnendo, a robotic surgery company led by research teams from MIT and Harvard. The company explained that these investments were not only direct investments in startups targeting the global market but also groundwork for full-scale investment activities in the future.

They also produced unicorn startups and publicly listed families. Rebellion, which is gaining presence in the global market beyond Korea and opening new possibilities for AI semiconductors, was recognized with a corporate valuation of 1 trillion KRW, entering the unicorn club. Shift Up, a game developer specializing in subculture, successfully landed on the KOSDAQ market. Both companies received follow-up investments after Kakao Ventures was named as their first institutional investor.

This year, Kakao Ventures plans to aggressively invest in very early-stage startups in its main investment areas: ICT services, deep tech, digital healthcare, and gaming. They will focus on all areas accelerating AI development, including software, hardware, materials, and processes; services and robotics rapidly advancing through AI technology application; enterprise startups seeking new opportunities through AI transformation (AX) in industries where AI has not yet been introduced; and emerging next-generation core technologies such as quantum, small modular reactors (SMR), and space-related fields.

Additionally, based on last year’s recovery performance of over 100 billion KRW, Kakao Ventures will strengthen the virtuous cycle structure of venture capital that connects investment, value-up, recovery, and fund formation. They will also enhance the dual directions of Insightful and Global, which have been ongoing since last year. Various efforts will continue to invigorate the investment ecosystem, such as diversifying the discovery and dissemination routes of future growth keywords, and activities to establish a foothold in the U.S. market will also proceed.

Kim Kijun, CEO of Kakao Ventures, said, "This year, we will devote all efforts to discovering startups that break down the boundaries of technology and industry and stand out on the global stage. We will actively support entrepreneurs to achieve solid growth and lead the virtuous cycle of the investment ecosystem as a venture capital firm."