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DEEP RESEARCH · ASSET ALLOCATION/STARTUP INVESTING

Could the Age of Startup Investing Arrive?

A short asset-allocation memo on the scale of capital needed to grow unicorns in Korea

Written: 2025-09-02 · Asset-allocation perspective · Original Naver Blog post

Investment decisions are your own responsibility. This material is research and is not a recommendation to buy or sell.

0. Bottom line first

The core thought is that Korea needs much larger pools of startup capital to grow unicorn companies. The specific idea recorded in the source is to use KRW 500 billion from the fund-of-funds and apply 10x leverage to create a fund of about KRW 5 trillion.

1. Starting point

Interpretation: The memo starts from the view that Korea lacks the investment capital needed to grow unicorns. If a new era of startup investing can arrive, the issue is not only finding good companies but also whether the capital-supply structure itself can scale.

Startup capital formation ideaOnly numbers stated in the source are used
Fund-of-fundsKRW 500bn
Leverage10x
Fund sizeAbout KRW 5tn
GoalCapital for unicorns
The key watchpoint is how much private capital policy money can mobilize.

2. Asset-allocation lens

This is not a recommendation for a specific startup or fund. It is a note, from an asset-allocation angle, that a larger pool of capital may enter Korea’s venture ecosystem. If policy and private capital combine into larger funds, even a public-equity-centered portfolio needs to think about how to view exposure to venture and unlisted growth companies.