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The Space Administration has completed the selection of venture capital (VC) firms to manage 'Newspace Fund (No. 4)', which will be established with a total size of 200 billion won, including a 100 billion won contribution from the Space Administration.
According to relevant industry sources on the 29th, Korea Venture Investment recently announced the results of the second scheduled capital injection project for fund of funds (Korea Venture Fund), including the Newspace Fund.
This Newspace Fund will be established with a total size of 200 billion won, with the Space Administration contributing 100 billion won and selected asset managers raising private funds. The fund size has grown 25 times compared to 8 billion won in August 2024, increasing interest not only among space startups but also among VCs, resulting in 13 asset managers competing for four selection slots. The final competition ratio was 3.3 to 1.
The selected asset managers are: △Small-cap: Medici Investment; Hanwha Venture & Bluecast Investment (joint management/Co-GP); △Mid-cap: Company K Partners; △Large-cap: GP Investment & Partners Hyeon (joint management), totaling four firms.
The small-cap fund will receive a 15 billion won contribution to establish a 30 billion won fund. The selected Medici Investment also served as the operator of Newspace Fund No. 1, established in 2023. Medici Investment invested in Space Solution and GTL using the fund raised at that time.
Hanwha Venture is also actively investing in space recently. Unastella, Nara Space Technology, and Stellar Vision are representative space portfolio companies. Bluecast Investment, which will jointly manage with Hanwha Venture, is a CVC (corporate venture capital) established by composite materials company Korea Carbon in July last year. It is expected to conduct strategic investments by leveraging synergies from collaboration with its parent company.
Company K Partners, selected for the mid-cap fund, also has experience as the operator of Newspace Fund No. 2 in 2024. It holds over 10 space sector portfolio companies, including StepLab, InterGravity Technologies, and Space LinTech. Company K Partners plans to increase its investment scale through this mid-cap fund and conduct follow-on investments in its portfolio.
GP Investment and Partners Hyeon, selected for the large-cap fund, are considered an anomaly as new VCs. GP Investment underwent a change in key personnel after being acquired by UTC Investment (now Forest Ventures) in 2024. Partners Hyeon, affiliated with a law firm group, was also established early this year and holds no significant investment history. These two firms were ultimately selected as asset managers, defeating Future Asset Capital, which has an investment track record including SpaceX.
The selected asset managers plan to finalize fund establishment by September and begin full-scale investments. With the completion of this capital injection project review, Korea Venture Investment also plans to soon recruit asset managers for the Newspace Global sector fund, where foreign VCs will serve as GPs.
[MoneyToday Startup Media Platform Unicorn Factory]
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