Kakao backer raises US$60 million to invest in South-east Asian startups

KOREA Investment Partners Southeast Asia (KIPSEA) has closed a US$60 million fund to invest in South-east Asian startups, the venture firm announced on Monday (Oct 30).

KIPSEA is the Singapore-based unit of Korea Investment Partners (KIP), one of South Korea’s largest venture firms with over US$3 billion in assets under management.

KIP’s portfolio includes South Korean media giants Kakao, Naver, and YG Entertainment, alongside Indonesian telemedicine startup Halodoc and Vietnam e-commerce platform Tiki.

The new fund by KIPSEA, called the KIP Southeast Asia Venture Fund I, will back startups in the seed to series B stages. A small portion will be reserved for South Korean companies looking to expand into the region. Sectors of interest include fintech, proptech and enterprise software.

The fund attracted contributions from institutional investors in South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore. They include Samsung Life Insurance, the Korea Development Bank, Korea Growth Investment Corporation, D.camp, Woomi Global, Mirana Ventures and Korea Investment & Securities Asia.

KIP has in recent years expanded its footprint in South-east Asia. The firm entered the region in 2018, with the launch of the GEC-KIP Technology and Innovation Fund, together with Singapore-based Golden Equator Capital. KIP has since been actively investing in the region’s startups.

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South-east Asia remains a key target market for the firm. “We aim 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,” said KIPSEA’s head Synclare Kim.

Formed in 1986, KIP is a subsidiary of Korea Investment Holdings, a financial conglomerate with businesses including securities, asset management and banking.