Mashup Ventures Forms KRW 25.9 Billion Private Fund to Invest in Very Early-Stage AI and Deep-Tech Companies

Mashup Ventures has formed a private fund worth KRW 25.9 billion to support the growth of very early-stage artificial intelligence (AI) and deep-tech companies.

Mashup Ventures said on November 11 that it had formed the KRW 25.9 billion Mashup First Believer Venture Investment Association No. 5. The fund was formed without policy funding. Mashup Ventures' partners are its largest investors, alongside successful founders and startups, leading companies in industries such as IT and manufacturing, and financial institutions. The fund will focus on investing in very early-stage companies at the pre-seed and seed stages, and has a 10-year term.

Mashup Ventures is an early-stage startup investment firm led by CEO Lee Taekyung, co-founder of Daum. Its partners are builders who have helped grow companies such as Nearthlab, Moloco, and Itemku.

Mashup Ventures believes that AI adoption is advancing at a pace similar to the early days of the internet in the mid-1990s, and that leading AI companies will emerge in Korea, where traditional industries are well established and AI adoption is rapid. The fund's name, "First Believer," reflects Mashup Ventures' investment principle of believing in a founder's potential before it has been proven by the market.

Since 2013, Mashup Ventures has invested in around 220 early-stage startups, serving as the first institutional investor in 87% of them. Its investments include Scatter Lab (Zeta), a leader in the AI character-chat market, and Wrtn Technologies (Crack). It also made early-stage investments in Bucketplace (Ohouse), MyRealTrip, Remember & Company, and StyleShare (29CM). Recently, it has expanded its investments into deep-tech fields, including O&V Space, Nanoforge AI, and Viologen.

The fund will invest across technology startup sectors with global expansion potential, including physical AI, vertical AI, energy, and aerospace. It will also expand its deep-tech investments, led by Vice President and CIO Park Eunwoo, formerly chief strategy officer (CSO) of physical AI company Nearthlab.

"When the paradigm shifted from the internet to mobile, we believed in the potential of founders who ventured into an uncertain market and invested in them," said CEO Lee. "Now that AI is entering industrial settings such as robotics, energy, and space, we will be the first investors to believe in founders before their technologies are proven."

Mashup Ventures has also brought on Yang Seongmin, an AI partner with an engineering background and experience founding and selling companies; Lee Sangwon, a venture partner and co-founder of Silicon Valley deep-tech company Quixxo; and serial founders serving as entrepreneurs-in-residence (EIRs) at the investment firm. The firm has established a system to assess the early potential of technology startups from the perspectives of engineers and founders, and to provide close support to its portfolio companies.

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