[In-Depth Look at Leading VCs]④"10 Years of Trust, 23-Fold Return" Atinuminvest Launches 1 Trillion Won Mega Fund

Jackpot Through Single-Fund Scaling Up
From 300 Billion Won to 1 Trillion Won in a Single Fund
Performance Volatility and Pressure to Deploy Capital Remain Concerns

Editor's Note
An unprecedented amount of capital is entering the venture investment market. As the government’s large-scale policy funds are being fully implemented, major venture capital (VC) firms are scaling up rapidly. However, increasing the amount of money and managing it effectively are two separate challenges. This series provides an 11-part in-depth analysis of trends in the VC market and leading domestic VC firms. Only the top houses by assets under management (AUM) were selected, excluding those with a high proportion of private equity (PE). After an overview of the entire market, we examine each firm's growth trajectory, flagship portfolios, investment philosophies, decision-making structures, key personnel, and organizational cultures.

In 2014, inside an investment evaluation meeting room in Gangnam, Seoul, sophisticated 3D fabric folds were fluttering in real-time on a monitor. It was a unique technology demonstration by fashion tech startup CLO Virtual Fashion. Sensing the overwhelming potential beyond the screen, Atinum Investment boldly placed a 3 billion won bet on the company, which at the time was valued at 27 billion won. Even when CLO Virtual Fashion went through growing pains and failed to deliver significant returns for a while, Atinum Investment chose to focus on intrinsic value rather than immediate results and continued with follow-up investments.

Last year, Atinum Investment cashed out all of its shares, recording a remarkable 23x multiple. This was thanks to CLO Virtual Fashion's valuation soaring to between 600 billion and 700 billion won. With this performance, Atinum Investment was shortlisted for "Exit of the Year" at the prestigious global 'AVCJ Awards 2025.' This moment proved the efficacy of the firm’s signature investment philosophy: unwavering focus that goes beyond chasing short-term results.

Scaling Up for Jackpot Exits through One-Fund Megastructures

Atinum Investment, a first-generation independent VC in Korea that traces its roots to Cheil Venture Capital established in 1988, owes its long-term and follow-up investment successes to overwhelming fund scale. The firm believes that in order to continuously inject hundreds of billions of won until a startup is fully established, the fund itself must be large in size.

The fund that invested in CLO Virtual Fashion is a prime example. The 'Atinum High Growth Enterprise Investment Association,' launched in 2014 with a size of 203 billion won, broke industry conventions of running multiple small funds by assembling a single large fund. This led to the early discovery and investment in Dunamu, now hailed as the biggest "jackpot" in Korean VC history. Dunamu, which had a valuation of 50 billion won in 2016, grew into a "giant" with a 20 trillion won valuation by 2021. Kim Jaewook, Vice President of Atinum Investment who led the investment, set an unprecedented record by earning a total bonus payout of 48.563 billion won.

When the fund was liquidated this past March, the total distribution reached 1.0039 trillion won, and the net internal rate of return (Net IRR) was 29.8%. Atinum Investment earned a performance fee of 218.7 billion won from this.

Atinum Investment is accelerating the scaling up of its funds. In 2018, the 'Atinum Growth Investment Fund 2018' was established at 350 billion won; in 2020, the 'Atinum Growth Investment Fund 2020' followed at 550 billion won; and in 2023, the 'Atinum Growth Investment Fund 2023' reached 860 billion won. The current AUM stands at 1.86 trillion won (with cumulative AUM of 2.4856 trillion won), ranking among Korea's top VC firms. Recently, Atinum Investment was the only VC to be selected as a general partner (GP) in the "ecosystem-wide, large-scale league" of National Growth Fund indirect investments, and is set to launch a mega fund of up to 1 trillion won in the second half of the year.

It is not just the fund scale that has grown. After forming the Atinum Growth Investment Fund 2023, Atinum Investment distributed more than 35% of the paid-in principal to limited partners (LPs) within just two years and six months, and recovered over 300 billion won in 2023 alone, ranking first in fund recovery among domestic VC venture funds.

A Three-Top Leadership System... From Series A to Pre-IPO

The firm has also established an operational system to manage its now-massive funds with precision. Atinum Investment currently operates under a three-CEO structure: Shin Ki-cheon, Lee Seung-yong, and Maeng Dujin. CEO Shin oversees overall management; CEO Lee is in charge of overseas investment and global fundraising; while CEO Maeng specializes in domestic investment and deep-tech. This forms an efficient triangular leadership.

Through this system, Atinum Investment makes balanced investments across the entire growth spectrum from Series A to pre-IPO stages, targeting promising businesses in AI, semiconductors and other deep tech areas, as well as bio/healthcare, IT services, and games/content. Key portfolio companies currently supported for systematic value growth include "Exina" and "Holiday Robotics" (deep tech), "NexEye" (bio), and "Gangnam Unni," "Bungaejangter," "Blast," and "The Grim Entertainment" (platform/content).

However, the scaling up of funds also brings risk factors. The firm faces pressure to deploy large amounts of capital in a timely manner, and performance volatility depending on the results of single-fund portfolios. In particular, with recent surges of investment in AI and deep tech fueling bubble concerns, prudent risk management for deploying large-scale capital is critical for Atinum Investment.

A representative from Atinum Investment stated, "For large funds, it's crucial to continuously prove our capabilities to create a virtuous cycle from large-scale fundraising, to aggressive follow-on investment, to solid exits and reliable LP distributions. We ranked No. 1 in capital recovery last year, proving our exit capabilities. We will focus on ensuring the stability of our large funds going forward."

<To be continued>

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