Fund formation in early April… An investment association that mainly invests in climate technology startups that will solve the climate crisis problem by taking the lead in fostering climate technology entrepreneurs was born. The Fellowship Program will be created for the first time in Korea to foster climate technology entrepreneurs while providing support for masters and doctoral level talents in the climate and environment fields.
Sopoong Ventures, an impact investment company, announced on the 22nd that it has decided to focus on investment in startups that offer technological solutions to respond to climate change. Sopoong Ventures is the first in Korea for a specific venture capital company to declare that it will focus on Gifu Tech investment.
Sangyeop Han, CEO of Picnic Ventures. [Photo = Picnic Ventures]
As the climate crisis worsens, international organizations and experts are emphasizing that climate technology development and nurturing is essential for carbon neutrality. However, only 14% of the global VC investment is still invested in Gifu Tech. In Korea, there are no related statistics.
Sopoong Ventures, as the first impact investment company established in Korea in 2008, has decided to invest in and nurture Gifu Tech startups. Therefore, starting this year, under the slogan ACT ON CLIMATE CRISIS, three tracks named Impact Climate will be executed.
First of all, the Impact Picnic No. 2 Investment Association, which is a financial source to invest in Gifu Tech startups, will be formed in early April. The fund will be formed with a total size of 10 billion won. There is a possibility that it will be worth more than 10 billion won depending on the recruitment of investors within this year, and it is a fund that is created only with 100% private funds. Sopoong plans to invest more than 50% of the funds funds in Gifu Tech startups. It mainly invests about 100 to 500 million won in early domestic startups. Investment fields include renewable energy, agri-food, and the circular economy.
In particular, it is noteworthy that StyleShare founder Yoon Ja-young and Krafton co-founder Kim Kang-seok, former CEO of Krafton, decided to invest in the fund. An official from Sopoong Ventures said that all of the investors agreed that the biggest problem facing our society is the climate crisis, so we need to nurture younger entrepreneurs in the climate tech sector. .
Sopoong will also launch an Impact Climate Fellowship program that will nurture Gifu Tech entrepreneurs in April. It is a program that recruits and educates around 50 people who major in technology in the climate and environment fields and experiences in entrepreneurship and management, and then selects some with the will to start a business as fellows and builds a company as a climate tech startup.
The company plans to provide a start-up subsidy of 2 million won per month during the 8-month training period so that they can concentrate on preparing for a start-up. It is also planning to provide close mentoring and office support for excursion partners with experience in starting and exiting such as Choi Kyung-hee, co-founder of tutoring and Yeom Jae-seung, founder of Tumblbuck. If the startup is successful, Sopoong makes seed investment and connects VC follow-up investment. This is the first fellowship program in Korea that provides support while supporting start-ups in a specific field.
In addition, the company is launching an Impact Climate Accelerator program next month to accelerate the growth of climate-related startups. It provides expert consulting and opportunities to attract VC investment to startup teams with technologies or business models to respond to climate change. We are currently recruiting participating teams, and you can check them out on our website.
Sangyeop Han, CEO of Sopoong Ventures, decided that as an impact investor, it was impossible to delay investment in climate issues any longer. He said he would do his best to help the team as well as the overall industry grow.
