South Korean Government, NH Bank and OurCrowd to Establish $80 Million Israel-Korea Fund for DeepTech Investments
27 June 2024 - 5:00PM
Business Wire
The bilateral fund is targeting ~25-30
Korean and Israeli venture investments in key sectors including
automotive, cybersecurity, digital health, robotics,
semiconductors, robotics and quantum computing.
OurCrowd, Israel’s most active venture investor, was selected by
the South Korean government to co-manage a bilateral investment
fund that will invest in startups in both countries. The fund’s
target is $80 million, $48 million of which has already been raised
by the Korean partners of the fund: NH Venture Investment and
K-Growth. OurCrowd is currently raising funds from its over 240K
registered investors worldwide.
The bilateral fund will invest in ~25-30 startups in both
countries that focus in core technology sectors, such as
semiconductors, robotics, automotive, quantum computing,
cybersecurity, digital health, and more.
The fund combines strong partners with access to Korean
conglomerates and $48M in funds already committed. It is backed by
Korea Growth Investment Corporation (K-Growth), an agency of the
Korean government that invests policy funds to achieve strategic
objectives, on behalf of the Korean Ministry of Trade Industry and
Energy (MOTIE). The fund is jointly managed by NH Venture
Investment and OurCrowd General Partner as co-GPs.
K-Growth has committed $32M to the fund, as one of the largest
financial agencies in Korea, handling most of the government’s
investments. This Korea-Israel venture fund will be one of its
largest international fund Investments and is formally known as the
NH-OC Global Open Innovation fund.
NH Venture Investment and its affiliate companies have committed
$16M to the fund. It is the venture arm of NongHyup Financial
Group, which is among the Top 5 financial groups in South Korea and
has total assets exceeding $400B.
Jon Medved, CEO of OurCrowd, said, "The establishment of the
Israel-Korea bilateral fund with the backing of the South Korean
government is wonderful news for Israeli high-tech. South Korea is
looking at Israeli innovation to establish its position in the
industries of the future that it strives to lead by the end of the
decade and beyond. Therefore, apart from the fund's investments,
Israeli DeepTech companies will receive direct access to the South
Korean industrial giants and will be able to forge collaborations
on a global scale, including in the Asia-Pacific markets. South
Korean startups on the other hand will benefit by exposure to
Israel’s deep global connections to leading venture capital
investors, entrepreneurs and family offices which will accelerate
their access to foreign tech innovation ecosystems and much needed
capital."
Kim Hyun Jin, CEO of NH Venture Investment, said "K-Growth has
established this fund to support the global expansion of Korean
companies through open innovations with global high-tech
enterprises such as innovative Israeli companies. We expect to find
Israeli innovation through OurCrowd’s extensive Israeli and Global
network, to collaborate with Korean high-tech startups to grow
together through this fund."
South Korea's economy is the 13th largest in the world and the
fourth largest in Asia. Its gross domestic product grew by 4.1% in
2021. South Korea is also the 5th largest manufacturing power in
the world after China, the United States, Japan, and Germany, and
the world's #2 investor in R&D as a percentage of GDP (#1 in
this category is Israel).
About OurCrowd: OurCrowd is the online global venture
investing platform that empowers institutions and individual
accredited investors to invest and engage in emerging technology
companies at an early stage. Acclaimed by PitchBook as the most
active venture investor in Israel every year since 2013, OurCrowd
vets and selects companies across all sectors and stages, invests
its own capital, and provides its global platform of over 240,000
registered members from 195 countries with unparalleled access and
freedom to co-invest from as little as $10,000 in the companies of
their choice.
Founded by CEO Jon Medved in 2013 with the vision of
democratizing world-class venture capital investing, OurCrowd has
grown rapidly into the world’s leading online venture investing
platform and as of 2024 has over $2.3 billion in commitments and
has deployed capital into more than 440 portfolio companies and 56
funds across five continents. To date, OurCrowd’s startups have
recorded 63 exits including several public market listings: Beyond
Meat (BYND), Lemonade (LMND), Innoviz (INVZ), Arbe (ARBE), Alpha
Tau (DRTS), Freightos (CRGO); and numerous high-profile
acquisitions: JUMP by Uber, BriefCam by Canon, Argus by
Continental, Crosswise by Oracle, Replay by Intel, Corephotonics by
Samsung, CyberX by Microsoft, and Kenna Security by Cisco.
OurCrowd builds value for its portfolio companies throughout
their lifecycles, providing mentorship, recruiting industry
advisors, navigating follow-on rounds and creating growth
opportunities through its network of multinational partnerships.
For more information visit: www.ourcrowd.com.
About NongHyup Financial Group: NHFG is the financial
holding company of NongHyup, one of the top five financial groups
in South Korea and often referred to as Korea's Credit Agricole.
NHFG contributes to the enhancement of the nation and community
through cooperation and innovation providing a prosperous future to
the farmer and the best value to clients. NHFG has 9 subsidiaries,
including Bank, Insurance and Investment Securities
(KOSPI:005940).
Not only domestically, but also globally, NHFG has active
collaboration programs that are taking place. For example, in 2003,
NH NongHyup Financial Group partnered with Amundi, a subsidiary of
Credit Agricole, to establish NH-Amundi Asset Management.
About NH Venture Investment: NH Venture Investment was
established as the 9th subsidiary of NongHyup Financial Group,
Korea's leading financial group. NHVI invests in promising
start-ups and SMEs with core technological competitiveness. In so
doing, NHVI hopes to concentrate on creating synergy for investors
by enhancing the corporate value of the invested company and
promoting pan-NongHyup Group linked projects.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240627508625/en/
MEDIA:
OurCrowd Leah Stern Partner, Global Communications +44
747 019 6826 leah@ourcrowd.com