Driving Growth for Companies Like Coreline Soft, Lumir, and Eseuh
HB Investment announced on October 22 that it has presented interim results for the Delta Team consortium, which it is operating as the second cohort operator of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' "Scale-up TIPS" program.
Scale-up TIPS is a public-private partnership scale-up support program promoted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. It is designed to help promising, technology-intensive small and venture companies make the leap into full-scale growth. Under this structure, if a private investment firm makes a pre-investment of at least 1 billion won, the government matches it with up to 1.2 billion won in research and development (R&D) funding and up to 2 billion won in equity investment over three years.
Now in its fourth year, HB Investment has achieved results such as recommending a cumulative total of 23 companies, 18 of which were selected, and successfully executing two matching investments. HB Investment has played a key role as part of the Delta Team consortium, which includes NVC Partners and Jiphyeon Strategic Consulting, establishing a full-cycle growth support system encompassing investment, R&D, commercialization, and global expansion.
In addition to providing capital, HB Investment has acted as a growth partner, supporting portfolio companies throughout the entire process from developing growth strategies to global expansion. In particular, through close consulting led by dedicated coordinators, the company has helped design technology development and commercialization milestones, building a customized scale-up partnership model for each company.
Representative success stories include Njet (semiconductor and display manufacturing equipment), Coreline Soft (AI medical image analysis), Lumir (aerospace satellite imaging), Eseuh (semiconductor process sensors), and GluGene Therapeutics (AAV gene therapy). In addition, healthcare companies such as Ipsell, Onheal, RP, Morpheus, OncoSoft, AITRICS, and Monitor Corporation have achieved revenue growth and expanded overseas.
Notably, Lumir and Ipsell established a collaborative relationship through Delta Team networking, and were selected as joint research institutions for the Ministry of Health and Welfare's "Innovative Project to Overcome Medical Challenges," realizing a win-win research collaboration model. To further strengthen the partnership foundation, the "Delta Team Meetup Day" has been institutionalized. The first meetup in 2023 saw participation from eight companies including Njet and Lumir, while the second meetup last year included 15 companies such as Ipsell and OncoSoft. HB Investment also participated in more than 10 global networking events, including meetups in Boston and New York, expanding its collaborative ecosystem with overseas investors and deep tech partners.
Going forward, HB Investment plans to expand the number of recommended companies for the global version of Scale-up TIPS, focus investments on national strategic technologies such as AI, bio, and materials/components/equipment, and launch a new global investor matching program. The company also aims to further advance its full-cycle support system that connects R&D, investment, and policy support, while establishing a sustainable growth structure based on partnerships.
Hwang Yuseon, CEO of HB Investment, stated, "Scale-up TIPS is not a one-way support structure for portfolio companies, but a win-win program where we work together to design growth strategies," adding, "We will continue to accompany our portfolio companies as strategic partners throughout their growth journey and play a leading role in the sustainable development of the domestic venture ecosystem."
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