Israel-Korea fund of $80M to invest in startups in deep tech sectors

The investment platform OurCrowd, the most active venture capital investment body in Israel, was chosen by the South Korean government to manage a bi-national investment fund that will invest in startups in both countries. The fundraising goal of the binational fund is $80 million, with $48 million already raised by the fund's Korean partners: NH Venture Investment and K-Growth, who have access to the largest companies in Korea. The OurCrowd platform is currently raising capital from its 240,000 qualified investors worldwide.

NH Venture Investment, which raised $16 million for the fund, is a wholly owned subsidiary of NongHyup, one of the 5 largest financial corporations in South Korea, which manages assets amounting to $400 billion. K-Growth, which raised $32 million, is also one of the largest financial groups in South Korea that handles most of the South Korean government's technological investments (through the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy) designed to achieve the country's strategic goals. This fund manages close to 40 billion dollars. The fund is jointly managed by NH Venture Investment and OurCrowd.  

The binational fund will invest in approximately 25-30 startups in both countries that focus on deep technologies (deeptech) in areas such as: semiconductors, robotics, the automotive industry, quantum computing, cyber security, digital health and more.   

John Medved, CEO of OurCrowd: "The establishment of the Israel-Korea binational fund with the backing of the South Korean government is wonderful news for Israeli hi-tech these days. South Korea is looking for 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 Diptech companies will have 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. On the other hand, startups from South Korea will benefit from Israel's deep connections among leading venture capital investors, entrepreneurs and private investors (family offices) who will accelerate their penetration into innovative technological markets and essential capital for them."

Kim Yoon Jin, CEO of NH Venture Investment: "K-Growth initiated the fund to support the expansion of Korean companies through open collaborations focused on technological innovation with global technology companies, such as innovative Israeli companies. Through the fund, we expect that Korean startups will cooperate with Israeli innovation and grow together, with the help of OurCrowd's extensive network deployed in Israel and around the world."    

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 US, Japan and Germany and the world's No. 2 investor in R&D as a percentage of GDP.  

OurCrowd, founded in 2013 by John Medved, has become in the last decade the most active investment body in venture capital in Israel with more than 240,000 registered qualified investors from 195 countries. Since its inception, OurCrowd has raised investment commitments amounting to over 2.3 billion dollars, and to date has invested in over 440 portfolio companies and 56 investment funds and recorded 63 exits, among them: the issuances of Beyond Meat, Lemonade, Innoviz, Arbe, Alpha Tau, and Freightos, The acquisition of Jump Bike by Uber, the acquisition of Briefcam by Canon, the acquisition of Argus by Continental, the acquisition of Crosswise by Oracle, the acquisition of Replay by Intel, the acquisition of Corephotonics by Samsung, the acquisition of CyberX by Microsoft, and the acquisition of Kenna Security by Cisco.