Venture capital deal value in South Korea reached USD 3.4 billion, while the value of venture capital funds raised amounted to USD 3.5 billion

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister LEE Young, hereinafter referred to as MSS) and the Financial Service Commission (Chairman KIM Joo-hyun, hereinafter referred to as FSC) released the trend report on venture capital investment and VC funds for H1 2023.

Until now, MSS has released quarterly reports on venture capital investment trends in South Korea. However, the report did not include data for venture capital investment under the jurisdiction of FSC. To accurately capture the size of the Korean venture capital investment, the two agencies agreed on aggregating and analyzing the investment performance of all venture capital from H1 2023.

A detailed analysis of venture capital investment for H1 2023 is as follows.

The deal value in H1 2023 was around USD 3.4 billion, a 42% drop from H1 2022 (see Table 1). However, it’s important to note that the unusual surge in venture capital investment in major countries worldwide in the previous year was due to COVID-19 liquidity expansion and other factors. The venture capital investment increased by 25% for H1 2023 compared to H1 2019 and 40% compared to H1 2020.

The value of VC funds raised for H1 2023 was about USD 3.5 billion, reflecting a 47% decline from the same period in 2022 but a 35% increase from H1 2019 and a significant 105% increase from H1 2020 (refer to Table 2).

A brief overview of venture capital investments and VC funds in South Korea for H1 2023

< (Table 1) VC investment in South Korea for the past five years (2019-2023>

* As of 6/30/2023

< (Table 2) VC funds in South Korea for the past five years (2019-2023) >

* As of 6/30/2023