Kim Yongbeom: "President Lee Forges 'Alliance' with Silicon Valley Kingmakers... Aiming to Nurture the Next Samsung and SK"

President Lee Discusses Investment Cooperation with Six Leading VCs Who Backed Apple, NVIDIA, and Google
National Pension Service Signs MOU…Vision to Foster Next-Generation Big Tech Firms via Venture Investment
Building Long-Term Partnerships with $313 Billion-Asset VCs Seen as "the Government’s Role"

Kim Yongbeom, policy chief at the presidential office, described the meeting between President Jaemyung Lee and major Silicon Valley venture capital (VC) firms as "a platform to foster the next giants in Korean big tech, like Samsung and SK." He stressed, "This encounter will not end as a one-time meeting or a single photograph." His comments are interpreted as signaling a move away from the past model of government-led economic development plans to foster conglomerates, instead aiming to connect Korean startups directly with global capital and markets so they can mature into the next generation of conglomerates.

Sungjoo Kim, Chairman of the National Pension Service, and Martin Casado, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, are posing for a commemorative photo after signing an MOU at a Silicon Valley venture investment meetup held on the 25th (local time) at a hotel in San Francisco, USA, attended by President Jae-myung Lee. 7.26.2026 Yonhap News Agency

After returning from San Francisco with President Lee, policy chief Kim posted on Facebook on the 25th (local time) under the title "Alliance with Kingmaker VCs," saying, "We met with big tech companies (NVIDIA, OpenAI, Anthropic, Broadcom) on the 24th, and on the 25th, we met the kingmakers behind big tech."

On the 25th (local time), President Lee held a venture investment roundtable at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco with representatives of six major Silicon Valley VC firms: Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), and Khosla Ventures. The National Pension Service also attended and signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) for investment cooperation with these VCs. The agreements outlined the establishment of long-term collaborative relationships to expand strategic partnerships with Korea's innovation ecosystem and jointly identify promising innovative companies and global investment opportunities.

The attending VC firms have been deeply involved in the growth stories of today's global big tech companies. Sequoia was an early investor in Apple, NVIDIA, and Google. Andreessen Horowitz has invested in Meta, Instagram, and the U.S. defense startup Anduril. Khosla Ventures participated as an early investor in OpenAI in 2019. Recently, Andreessen Horowitz also opened a Seoul office, strengthening its entry into the Korean market.

Kim noted that "the insight of these VC firms was at the starting point of most of the big techs that move the world today," adding, "Now, that insight is being directed toward Korea." He also introduced that these VCs already have successful investment experience with Korean companies such as Musinsa. According to the presidential office, the combined assets under management of the six VC firms amount to 313 billion dollars (approximately 450 trillion won).

Kim also explained the nature of venture investment, saying, "Venture investment operates on a completely different scale from big tech infrastructure investments, which require hundreds of trillions or even quadrillions of won. Even a deal worth 50 billion won constitutes a mega-deal." The point is that vision and network—discovering and nurturing early-stage companies into global players—matter more than the absolute size of available capital.

Earlier at the event, President Lee stated, "Korea is an irreplaceable hub of innovation that offers new growth opportunities to global investors," pledging to improve the visa system and investment environment and to comprehensively support investment, finance, and overseas expansion. He also proposed that the Korea-U.S. partnership expand from a security alliance to technology, innovation, and startup alliances.

The attending VC representatives emphasized that Korea's startup ecosystem needs a culture where people can try again after failure, as well as appropriate follow-on investments. In response, President Lee said he would work toward transforming Korea into a society that broadly offers entrepreneurial opportunities—including to young people—and instructed policy chief Kim and First Vice Minister Noh Yongseok of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to review practical ways to connect universities with investment firms.

Kim commented, "The next generation of Korean conglomerates cannot grow in the same way as Samsung and SK did under government economic development plans. In advanced economies, big techs begin as startups, receive venture capital, and then leap into the global market." He indicated a policy shift: rather than the government selecting specific companies for concentrated resources and financing, private investors will pick promising firms, while the state supports them with regulation, visas, finance, and overseas expansion.

Kim added, "Global venture capitalists know best how to achieve growth and at what pace. Linking them with Korean startups is, indeed, what the government should do. I hope that the seeds of collaboration planted at this meeting will eventually grow into a vast forest of startups in the future."

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