Korea Investment Partners raises $60m SE Asia fund
Korea Investment Partners (KIP) has raised USD 60m for a Southeast Asia venture fund from institutional investors in Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
LPs include Samsung Life Insurance, Korea Development Bank, Korea Growth Investment Corporation, D.camp, Woomi Global, Mirana Ventures, and Korea Investment & Securities Asia. The overall target size has not been confirmed.
This is KIP’s first flagship vehicle for Southeast Asia. The firm previously targeted the region via the GEC-KIP Technology and Innovation Fund, a joint venture with Singapore’s Golden Equator Capital that launched in 2018 with a target of SGD 120m (USD 73m).
The new fund will invest from the seed to Series B stages, targeting start-ups with the potential to expand across the region in categories including financial technology, property technology, and enterprise software. A small portion of capital will be reserved for Korean start-ups looking to enter Southeast Asia.
“Underpinned by strong macroeconomic factors and the development of technological and digital capabilities within the region, Southeast Asia remains a key target market for KIP,” Synclare Kim, head of KIP Singapore, said in a statement.
“We target to utilise KIP’s strategic networks and the strength of its ecosystem to identify and nurture early-stage, high potential and category-defining companies across the region.”
KIP is an affiliate of Seoul-listed financial conglomerate Korea Investment Holdings and one of the largest VC investors in Korea with USD 3bn in assets under management. It has made more than 900 investments, including local internet giants Kakao and Naver.
Notable Southeast Asian investees include Indonesian health platform Halodoc, which has raised more than USD 360m since 2016, including a USD 100m Series D last July. There is also Vietnamese e-commerce platform Tiki, which has raised about USD 500m since 2012, with Hong Kong insurance company AIA leading a USD 258m Series E in 2021.
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