Collaborative Fund, Featuring Morgan Housel, to Accelerate Investments in Korea

Collab+Asia Launches
Connecting Korean Founders with Silicon Valley

Collaborative Fund, which includes Morgan Housel, author of "The Psychology of Money," is set to significantly expand its investments in Korean startups.

On June 24, Collaborative Fund’s Asia investment platform, Collab+Asia, announced that it recently led a seed investment round of 1.1 billion won in Mentat, a domestic AI legal tech startup. Mentat is a startup developing AI-based legal document drafting services for lawyers.

Collab+Asia is led by CEO Brian Jang. Jang joined Collaborative Fund after working at UBS Investment Bank, startup data platform Mattermark, and Silicon Valley venture capital firm Social Capital. He currently oversees sourcing investments and building founder networks in Korea and across Asia.

Collaborative Fund has previously invested in AI language education company Speak, vehicle sharing platform SOCAR, content IP company Contents Technologies, and fintech startup Lendit, among others. Over the past decade, it has built a portfolio of more than 15 Korea-related companies. With the recent formal launch of its Asia platform, the firm has established a new fund and plans to accelerate investments in domestic startups.

To deepen its understanding of the Korean market, Collab+Asia is also building partnerships with local experts in the finance and startup sectors. Its advisory board includes Do Gyu-sang, former Vice Chairman of the Financial Services Commission (currently an advisor at Kim & Chang), and Kim Sungjun, CEO of Hypercal.

Former Vice Chairman Do provides advisory services on the Korean financial industry and regulatory environment. CEO Kim Sungjun, a fintech founder with entrepreneurial experience in both Korea and the United States, plays a key role in connecting Korean startups to the global investment ecosystem.

Collab+Asia cited several reasons for its focus on the Korean market: the growing global influence of Korean content and brands, an increasing number of founders designing their businesses for global markets, and the still-low proportion of U.S. venture capital invested in Korea. The company also noted that domestic institutional investors (LPs) are showing greater interest in asset managers with global expansion capabilities, which it views as a positive shift in the market environment.

Brian Jang, CEO of Collab+Asia, stated, "Korea has already established itself as a key hub for global culture and technological innovation. Our goal is to serve as a tangible bridge for Korean founders as they expand into the U.S. and Southeast Asian markets."

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