Korean VC Firm Daesung Private Equity Announces $83 Million Metaverse Fund

Daesung Private Equity, a Korean venture capital firm, has announced the launch of a metaverse fund of 110 billion won ($83.5 million). The fund, which will have the participation of the Korean state represented by Korea Venture Investment Corporation’s Korea Fund of Funds, aims to put investments into virtual reality (VR) and digital twins-related businesses.

Korean venture capital firm Daesung Private Equity has decided to get into the metaverse investment field. The company announced on Nov. 30 the launch of a metaverse-focused fund, that would have 110 billion won (equivalent to $83.5 million) to invest.

The “Metaverse Scale-Up Fund,” which the company claims is Korea’s biggest private fund in the sector, will see the participation of the Korean state with the support of the Korea Venture Investment Corporation’s Korea Fund of Funds.

60 billion won (close to $46 million) was also injected by different companies of the Daesung consortium, including Daesung Holdings, Daesung Energy, and Daesung Clean Energy. Other institutions participating in the fund are the Industrial Bank of Korea and Shinhan Capital.

The company, which has a background of investments in private IT firms, has a very favorable opinion about the future of the metaverse and strives to strike first with this move. On this, Daesung Group chairman Younghoon David Kim stated:

Metaverse is already considered to be an industry-wide game changer rather than being simply a newly emerging field. Through this fund, Daesung Group will hold a strategic leadership position in the growth of the metaverse.

The metaverse market seems to be on fertile ground in Asia, with a recent report issued by Deloitte estimating that the industry could add $1.4 trillion to Asia’s GDP annually by 2035. Daesung Private Equity wants to have the first-mover advantage, and that is why this is the biggest fund of the 16 funds administered by the company, which holds 407.6 billion won ($312 million).

The Korean state has also been putting funds into the metaverse, announcing investments of $177 million in May as part of the Digital New Deal, a national, tech-focused plan. At that time, Korea was one of the first nations to invest directly in metaverse companies.

Furthermore, in June, the Ministry of South Korean Science, Information and Communications Technology was recruiting companies to be part of a metaverse content creation project, directed to lay the groundwork for the strategy of the country in this area.

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