[4/07 Venture Business News]
*Wow… Time flies so fast. I haven’t been able to report on venture business for a week since I worked so hard after returning to Korea. I am going to Singapore again on Wednesday, but I am going to be less busy this time, so make sure to visit twice a week

*Number 1 and 2… Busan City has made various announcements to take off as a start-up city. In the long run, 2.1 trillion won will be formed, and the Busan Start-up Office will be established like Chang Jin-won. What the venture industry is paying attention to is the Busan Motae Fund. According to reports, the Korea Development Bank is worth 50 billion won, Busan City is 5 billion won, BNK Financial Group is 10 billion won, the government’s parent fund is 25 billion won, and other 11 billion won will be managed by Korea Venture Investment. In the second half of the year, a fund of 250 billion won will be formed, and the fund league will be introduced as a league system. Will the Busan start-up ecosystem become active?

*Number 4… Hana Ventures will select a GP as a parent fund manager. It is about 20 billion won, but it selects two management companies and the league targets the general league and rookie league. Application conditions are the basic requirement to select a policy investment project. You should contact ventures while busy with the places where you have been born for the first time!

*No.5.. The audit report for ’23 by Bamin, Carrot, Yanolja, and Curly was released. In summary, Bamin laughed, Carrot laughed, Yanolja cried, Curly was sad. Bamin (2.9 trillion in sales, 420 billion won in operating profit), Carrot was KRW 127.6 billion, and the consolidated financial loss was KRW 17.3 billion, but the consolidated financial loss was KRW 1.1 billion due to the loss of subsidiaries. Curly saw a 2% increase in sales of KRW 2.7 trillion, a loss of KRW 143.6 billion, and Yanolja saw a 27% increase in sales of KRW 766.7 billion, a decrease of 88% to KRW 1.7 billion. We released the performance of Hwahaehwa-do as a press release, but the audit report has not been released yet. The 4Q earnings and the November surplus conversion made sales record KRW 51.6 billion…

*Number 7.. The number of accelerators 461 has increased tremendously. Investments have also increased overall, but last year’s difficulty has continued to decline. Investments are 667.1 billion won, down about 30 percent from 932.9 billion won in 2022, and those of top 30 companies are also 424.7 billion won, down 35 percent from 661 billion won.

*No. 8.. K2 Invest has formed a fund that targets Series B worth 159.2 billion won. Last year, he swept up public investment projects and… a large fund…

*Number 11.. Lastly, Google is releasing a paid search model. It is compared to Chet GPT providing free search. Personally, considering Google’s search data volume and BING’s search data volume, I think that even if GPT provides free and good service, if Google search service can be used with other paid models as a package, the market share date will change from 9:1 to 7:3, which is unlikely to be 5:5 as the market says lol

1) We are looking for the 10th place in Busan’s 亞 start-up within 5 years… Plans to create a fund of 2.1 trillion won
The Busan Metropolitan Government, which dreams of becoming the “Asia’s Top 10 Start-up City” leading the global hub, established the 2nd (2024-2028) Comprehensive Plan for Supporting Technology Start-ups and announced on the 4th. The plan is a comprehensive plan established every five years to promote alcohol start-ups in accordance with the Busan Metropolitan City Ordinance on Supporting Technology Start-ups, and presents the direction of the city’s policy to support technology start-ups over the next five years. First of all, the Busan Start-up Office, which decided to gather and connect start-up support departments scattered by each institution, will be established by the end of this year, and is expected to be outlined in May after a feasibility study under the name of the Busan Technology Start-up Investment Institute with 55 manpower. In order to strengthen its own ecosystem, it plans to expand the scale-up fund and create a new global parent fund to expand the size of the fund to 2.1 trillion won. Efforts will be made to expand and attract 60 companies, twice the current level of local AC (start-up planners) and VC (venture capital). The figure has been greatly expanded than the target of 340.4 billion won for 21 funds in the first plan.

2) Busan City to Create 101 Billion Future Growth Venture Fund
The Busan Metropolitan Government announced on the 2nd that it has confirmed the creation of 101 billion won of the Busan Future Growth Venture Fund, a parent fund that will signal the expansion of investment ecosystem infrastructure for the growth of innovative companies in the region. The parent fund will be managed by Korea Venture Investment with a total of 101 billion won, including 50 billion won from the Korea Development Bank, 5 billion won from Busan City, 10 billion won from BNK Financial Group, 25 billion won from the government’s parent fund, and 11 billion won from other sources. Busan City plans to form a fund on the initiative, rather than the way local governments participate in the government-led fund creation, and as part of this, it will start to create a fund worth more than 250 billion won from the second half of the year. The fund will be operated by a league system (40% of the parent fund in the region, 50% of the parent fund in the metropolitan area, and 10% of the parent fund in the global area) considering the characteristics and capabilities of the region. The plan is to improve the weaknesses of the local investment ecosystem through the role of each league. Only local accelerators (ACs) and venture capital (VC) can participate in the regional league as management companies.

3) Gungeun Gong returns to VC investment after 3 years…. Investment of KRW 20 billion
The Construction Workers’ Mutual Aid Association, which disappeared from its investment project in 2021, will return to an investor who invests in venture capital (VC) in three years. On the 5th, the Investment Bank (IB) Construction Workers’ Mutual Aid Association started selecting two consignment management companies for domestic venture funds. Each management company is worth less than 10 billion won, or a total of 20 billion won. The minimum amount of formation per fund is 100 billion won. The construction workers’ association’s share of investment in this fund is within 10% of the total amount formed. The management company (GP) is obligated to invest at least 1% of the total amount of the contract. The Construction Workers’ Mutual Aid Association plans to receive applications by the 18th and make a final selection in late May. The management assets of the Construction Workers’ Mutual Aid Association are about 5.2 trillion won. The management assets, which were worth 289.6 billion won in 2004, increased to 2.58 trillion won in 2013 and 5 trillion won in 2023.

4) Hana Ventures Launches ‘Private Equity Fund’…A large number of volunteers are flocking
According to the venture capital (VC) industry on the 1st, Hana Ventures recently announced its first investment project in 2024 for the “Hana-Cho Gap Win-Win Indirect Fund.” It will post an application form on the 4th and apply from the 5th to the 16th. The fund’s main investment target is small and medium-sized companies with a TI-6 or higher investment technology evaluation grade. The total investment amount of Hana Ventures is about 20 billion won, and the maximum investment ratio is less than 20% of the total amount of the formation agreement, which is not large. Investment projects are divided into rookies (within five years of establishment, less than 100 billion won in AUM (operating assets) and general leagues. As a dedicated league has been created, there has been a factor for new VC to actively start investment projects. Only those who have completed the first verification with the house selected for the policy LP investment project can apply. As the first regular investment project under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has recently been completed, it is expected that a large number of GP-selected companies will continue to support it. It is understood that Albatross Investment and Comes Investment have decided to apply for the investment project. The two houses were selected as GPs in the initial field of start-up for the first round of the parent fund. In addition, We Ventures and Sema Investment will decide whether to apply or not when specific investment forms are released in the future.

5) Baemin, carrots, Yanolja, Curly… How was your life last year
Korea’s leading platforms received different report cards last year. First of all, Baedal Minjok (Elegant Brothers) recorded KRW 3.4155 trillion in sales and KRW 699.8 billion in operating profit on a consolidated basis last year. Sales rose 15.9% from the previous year (2.947.1 trillion won) and operating profit increased 65% from the previous year (424.1 billion won). Among the business sectors, product sales amounted to KRW 688 billion, up 34% from the previous year (512.2 billion won), driving the growth of earnings by commerce businesses such as Baemin and Bmart. On a separate basis, the company achieved its first surplus in eight years in 2015 with sales of KRW 127.6 billion and operating profit of KRW 17.3 billion. On a separate basis, sales increased by 156 percent year-on-year, and operating profit turned into a surplus compared to the previous year (46.4 billion won deficit). On the basis of consolidated carrot market, the cost of overseas subsidiaries such as North America and Japan and Carrot Pay were incorporated into operating expenses, resulting in an operating loss of KRW 1.1 billion. Curly’s consolidated sales reached an all-time high of KRW 2.77 trillion last year, up 2% year-on-year (2.37 trillion won). The annual loss was KRW 143.6 billion, down 38% from the same period last year. It is the first time since Curly was established that the annual loss has decreased. Yanolja’s consolidated sales reached 766.7 billion won last year, up about 27% from the same period last year, due to even growth in the travel platform and cloud and interpark triple sectors. Operating profit fell by about 88% to 1.7 billion won, and net profit and loss improved by about 67% compared to the previous year to -40.4 billion won. Yanolja’s platform sales increased by 10.9 billion won from the same period last year to 375.3 billion won. Operating profit fell by 20.5 billion won year-on-year to 32.1 billion won. Yanolja, which is preparing to go public this year, hired Alexander Ibrahim, a former New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), as its chief financial officer (CFO) at the end of last year. Therefore, some predict that it will challenge the U.S. Nasdaq market.

6) Beauty Platform Hwahae Breaks 51.6 Billion Last Year’s Sales ‘Most Ever’
Birdview, which operates the beauty platform Hwahae, announced on the 4th that it achieved the highest sales ever last year. Hwahae achieved record sales last year, exceeding 51.6 billion won in consolidated sales. This is a 30.2% increase compared to the previous year. Hwahae’s operating profit returned to surplus in November last year due to the intensive cost control effect. As a result, operating loss in the fourth quarter of last year was KRW 1.7 billion, a 65% decrease from the same period last year, significantly reducing the loss. Operating profit (EBITDA) before tax, interest, and depreciation in November recorded KRW 720 million, up 189% from the same month last year. Meanwhile, the company’s audit report has not yet been released.

7) The Age of 461 Accelerators… But investment is at a loss
According to the “2023 Korea Accelerator Industry White Paper” published by the Korea Accelerator Association on the 3rd, 461 ACs were registered in Korea as of last year, up eight times from 56 in the first year of 2017. 362 out of 461 AC companies invested a total of 667.1 billion won, down 28.5% from 932.9 billion won in the previous year. The total investment of the top 30 companies last year was also 424.7 billion won