[VC Now] Mashup Ventures: "In the AI Era, Teams That Find PMF Fastest Will Survive"

Interview with Taekkyung Lee, CEO of Mashup Ventures

"Relentlessly Solve the Customer’s Real Problems"

"Focusing on Teams in AI, Deep Tech, and K-Culture with Global Potential"

"These days, it's extremely difficult to find people for household chores in the United States. Not only are labor costs high, but immigrants are also being driven out. That's why I invested in a Silicon Valley-based startup developing housekeeping robots."

This is what Lee Taekyung, CEO of Mashup Ventures, said during a recent interview with The Asia Business Daily, while introducing the startup 'Chameleon.' Founded by artificial intelligence (AI) robotics experts from Tesla, Meta, and Waymo, Chameleon is developing a humanoid robot that can autonomously recognize spaces and clean them. The plan is to delegate repetitive tasks that are difficult for humans, starting with hotels and gradually expanding to similar environments such as offices and hospitals.

Lee emphasized, "Every founder should always think from the customer's perspective and identify 'pain points'—the areas where customers feel inconvenienced. The customer is the best judge." He added, "Winning a competition or securing an investment doesn't mean you should become overly absorbed in the item you've discovered. At Mashup Ventures, we look for founders who have a clear understanding of the problem, a solution, and tenacity."

After Web and Mobile, Now AI... The Third Big Wave in IT

Lee Taekkyung, CEO of Mashup Ventures, is giving an interview to The Asia Business Daily. Photo by Yoon Dongjoo

Lee is a first-generation entrepreneur in Korea who co-founded Daum Communications in 1995. After leaving Daum in 2008, he began angel investing and entered the venture investment industry. In 2010, he co-founded the accelerator Primer, and in 2013, he established Mashup Angels, focusing on pre-seed and seed-stage investments. In 2024, he changed the company name to Mashup Ventures in line with changes in the venture capital (VC) ecosystem. The name 'Mashup' comes from the idea of mixing different tracks to create new music. Most of the partners are former startup founders or C-level executives.

Lee diagnosed that the IT industry has entered its third major transformation. In the mid-1990s 'web era,' companies like Daum, Naver, and Nexon emerged. Around 2010, during the 'mobile era,' platform companies such as Baedal Minjok and Coupang grew. Now, he says, we are in the third wave: the 'AI era.'

The most significant characteristic of the AI era is the speed at which trends change, often within just a few months. He said, "Yahoo's directory service opened the portal era, but was eventually overtaken by Google search. In the mobile era, apps replaced search. In the AI era, the pace of change is much faster—honestly, it's dizzying."

He predicted, "Ultimately, the team that finds PMF (Product-Market Fit) the fastest will survive." The period when Mashup Ventures achieved its best investment results also coincided with the mobile era. He added, "Whenever a major technology trend emerges, startup opportunities explode. Investors' multiples can also be maximized through startups that achieve great success."

The Common Keyword for Investment Targets: 'Global'

The main investment areas Mashup Ventures is focusing on are AI, robotics, and K-culture. The common keyword is global. Lee said, "In a situation where big tech's large language models (LLMs) are rapidly proliferating, there are actually more opportunities in vertical (specialized) fields. General-purpose AI cannot solve every problem. We see high potential in models and security infrastructure that can implement similar performance more efficiently."

A representative investment portfolio is RYUTEN Technologies, a generative AI company. Mashup Ventures invested from the early days in 2021, when the company was still a student startup team. RYUTEN became the first Korean AI platform company to surpass a cumulative investment of 100 billion won.

AIM Intelligence, a generative AI security diagnostic solution company, also secured follow-on investment just one year after the initial investment. The company ranked first among more than 2,000 teams at a global competition in Dubai and is collaborating with OpenAI, the National AI Safety Research Institute, and the Financial Security Institute.

Opportunities are also being sought in the robotics sector, including with Chameleon. He said, "Physical AI still has a long way to go, but when combined with Korea's manufacturing capabilities, it can create asymmetric opportunities."

Investment in K-culture is also expanding. Based on investment experience in Today's House, MyRealTrip, and StyleShare, Mashup Ventures has broadened its scope to K-beauty, K-food, K-wellness, and K-content. One recent investment, 'Seoul Beauty Club,' provides an AI-based K-beauty subscription service for American women in their 30s to 60s. Major portfolio companies also include 'BlyMonkeys,' an Indian K-beauty distribution platform, and 'Aiden Lab,' a cross-border distribution company.

Polarization Between Startups and VCs Deepens... "But Now Is Still an Opportunity"

Regarding the current venture investment market, he said, "Popular AI startups are attracting investments at high valuations, but it's difficult to say the overall market has fully recovered. With fewer startups being founded, there are also fewer teams to invest in compared to the past. Even among university student startups, self-employed models aiming for 'quick revenue' rather than scaling up are increasing."

Lee Taekyung, CEO of Mashup Ventures, is posing after an interview with The Asia Business Daily. Photo by Yoon Dongjoo

However, he also pointed out a positive sign that more startups are now emerging from research laboratories. Lee said, "In the AI field, graduate students or students who have grown up with AI often adapt to technology more quickly. That's why a downturn can actually be the right time to invest. Originally, startup investment is made with a five to ten-year horizon." Mashup Ventures is preparing to launch a new fund in the second half of this year. The plan is to focus on discovering teams targeting global markets and to strengthen support for portfolio companies' overseas expansion.

Lee stated, "More than 80% of our portfolio companies are teams with global expansion in mind. We want to create success stories together, starting from Korea and reaching the world." He added, "As investors constantly evaluate startups, they can develop a 'teacher complex.' Mashup Ventures wants to provide hints, not the answers. We aim to be a 'discussion partner' that finds the answers together with founders."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.