South Korea
Korea Web3 gaming platform gets $34m
Krust Universe, a start-up incubation and investment unit of Korean internet giant Kakao, has led a USD 34m round for local Web3 gaming platform Iskra.
LP interview: Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance
Innchul Oh, a senior manager with Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance, approaches international private equity with a brand of risk wariness that currently favours venture over buyouts. Generalist GPs are lamented as a dying breed
Diageo divests Korean whisky brand to local PE consortium
Global beverage giant Diageo has agreed to sell Windsor, Korea’s best-selling whisky brand, to Bayside Private Equity and Metis Private Equity for KRW 200bn (USD 163.2m).
Korean metaverse player closes Series A, hits $807m valuation
VA Corporation, a Korean virtual content provider that is positioning itself as a metaverse platform, has achieved a valuation of KRW 1trn (USD 807m) on closing a KRW 100bn Series A round.
AVCJ Awards 2021: Deal of the Year – Mid Cap: Danggeun Market
A social, hyperlocal overlay has made Korea’s Danggeun Market a subversively complex e-commerce play. As the company scales and experiments, it reflects new confidence in its home market
Korean GP Credian sponsors $200m US SPAC offering
Seoul-based private equity firm Credian Partners has teamed up with CrystalBioSciences, a captive VC unit of biopharmaceutical company CrystalGenomics, to raise USD 200m for a US-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
Crescendo closes third Korea fund on $910m
Korean middle-market private equity firm Crescendo Equity Partners has confirmed a final close of USD 910m on its third flagship fund, beating a target of USD 700m.
Korea's Biorchestra gets $45m Series C
Biorchestra, a Korea-based drug developer specialising in RNA therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases, has closed a Series C funding round of KRW 54bn (USD 45m).
Korea's Shinsegae raises another $251m for e-commerce platform
SSG.com, the e-commerce platform of South Korean retailer Shinsegae Group, raised an additional KRW 300bn (USD 251m) from existing backers Affinity Equity Partners and BRV Capital Management.
Korea's Envisioning Partners raises $64m climate tech fund
Envisioning Partners, a Korean impact venture capital firm set up last year, has raised KRW 76.8bn (USD 64m) for a climate-focused tech fund, beating a target of USD 60m.
Korea autonomous driving tech supplier raises $20m
Morai, a Korean autonomous vehicle simulation technology supplier, has raised USD 20m in Series B funding from investors including Korea Investment Partners and Hyundai Motor Group.
Deal focus: NPX adds tech to Korea’s culture thesis
NPX Capital is creating a US-based media platform to tap rising global appetite for Korean entertainment. Early acquisitions emphasise artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and the metaverse
GIC backs $525m Korea data centre program
Singapore’s GIC has teamed up with digital infrastructure company Equinix with a view to investing USD 525m in the development of two data centres in Korea.
Portfolio: Affirma and Sunwoo Fresh
Affirma Capital is helping Korea’s Sunwoo Fresh discover new revenue streams overseas, online, and in adjacent links of the beef importing value chain. Aggressive M&A has accelerated the process
BRV leads $140m Series C for Korea's Green Labs
BRV Capital Management has led a KRW 170bn (USD 140m) Series C round for Green Labs, a Korea-based agricultural technology start-up seeking to digitalise the food production value chain.
NPX invests $43m in Korean digital content provider
The private equity arm of US and Korea-based NPX Capital has invested USD 43m in Korean digital cartoon studio Copin Communications.
MBK to buy control of Korea e-commerce solutions provider
MBK Partners has agreed to buy a controlling stake in KoreaCenter, a Korea-based e-commerce services provider, for KRW 491.7bn (USD 429.8m) across several equity and debt transactions.
Korea's VIG makes first full exit from Fund III
VIG Partners has agreed to exit its 51% stake in eyewear brand Star Vision through a buyback by the South Korean company’s founder and current minority shareholder.
Anchor invests $210m in Korean grocery player Kurly
Anchor Equity Partners has committed KRW250 billion ($210 million) in pre-IPO funding to Kurly, a Korean grocery delivery platform that earlier this year said it would list locally rather than in the US.
Korea anti-aging polymer maker gets $22m
Dexlevo, a Korean biotech company specializing in anti-aging dermal fillers, has raised KRW26 billion ($22 million) in pre-IPO funding led by local GPs Magna Investment and Smilegate Investment.
Bain leads $63m Series C for Korea's PeopleFund
Bain Capital has led a KRW75.9 billion ($64.5 million) Series C round for PeopleFund, a Korean lending platform. It is described as the largest funding round in the country’s P2P finance industry.
Vision Fund leads $188m investment in Naver's metaverse
SoftBank Vision Fund 2 is the largest participant in a KRW223.6 billion ($187 million) investment in Naver Z, the metaverse platform unit of Korean internet giant Naver Corporation.
STIC commits $840m to Korea's Iljin Materials
STIC Investments has led a KRW1 trillion ($840 million) investment in Iljin Materials, a Korean producer of electric foils used in lithium batteries and consumer electronics, to support the international expansion of its manufacturing footprint.