"Building a Deep-Tech Investment Platform… Supporting Global Unicorn Growth with Laboratory Technologies"

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"We will transform into a 'Jeonju-based Deep-Tech Investment Platform' that directly discovers promising technologies and takes full responsibility from startup founding through early-stage and follow-on investments, as well as linking with government R&D (Research and Development) projects."

Choi Moon-jong, Co-CEO of DGIST Technology Holdings, stated this while meeting with Money Today's startup media platform 'Unicorn Factory', saying, "DGIST Technology Holdings will serve as a 'deep-tech specialized investment firm' connecting laboratories and the market."

In March, Choi (CEO) joined DGIST Technology Holdings and established a 'dual leadership system' alongside Co-CEO Gu Jae-hyung (DGIST Yeon Gu-san-hak (Director)), who is well-versed in campus research and industry-academia collaboration. While Co-CEO Gu will discover promising foundational technologies hidden across DGIST laboratories and solidify the campus startup foundation, Choi (CEO) will be responsible for fund formation, direct investment, securing follow-on investments, and scaling up, leveraging their experience and network in the investment market.

_NAME_0__ served as Director of the Daegu Creative Economy Innovation Center, where they laid the groundwork for the regional startup ecosystem. Recognized for their contributions to on-site venture company support, they received an award from the Minister of SMEs and Startups in 2021.

The first major initiative taken by Choi (CEO) after taking office was the establishment of a proprietary venture fund. This goes beyond the traditional role of technology holdings, which had been limited to technology transfer and startup support, aiming to build direct investment capabilities. Once established, the fund plans to prioritize investments in DGIST faculty, researchers, and student startups, as well as companies utilizing DGIST technologies, focusing on future core deep-tech fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, system semiconductors, and biotechnology.

"Deep-tech companies do not generate revenue simply by having one good technology," said Choi (CEO), emphasizing that "since it takes a long time to turn technology into products, undergo validation, and enter the market, capital is needed to invest and nurture these ventures from the early stages with a long-term perspective."

The structure will also link not only investment execution but also government R&D (Research and Development) projects. This year, the organization will participate as a cooperative institutional investor to support selected companies in the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' technology startup support program 'TIPS (Technology Innovation Program for Startups)'. Next year, DGIST Technology Holdings plans to secure operating rights for TIPS directly.

Efforts are also accelerating to expand the portfolio to strengthen the self-investment foundation. Currently, DGIST Technology Holdings' portfolio includes around 20 companies. This year, they plan to add at least five promising faculty and researcher startups to increase scale. Simultaneously, as a technology intermediary institutional investor, they aim to promote commercialization of excellent research outcomes held by DGIST, targeting a more than 10% year-over-year increase in technology transfer fees.

"We will create a virtuous cycle where technologies from laboratories are discovered and connected to either technology transfer or startup founding, and startups receive direct investment and follow-on funding to grow," said Choi (CEO). They added, "Technology holdings must not remain merely as intermediaries transferring technology to companies. Instead, they should evolve into structures that build companies based on good technologies, make direct investments, support subsequent growth, and grow corporate valuations together."

To address one of the biggest obstacles to researcher entrepreneurship—management burden—a new model called the 'Deep-Tech Venture Studio' is being promoted. In this division-of-labor structure, researchers focus on core technology development and R&D, while professional managers handle commercialization and organizational operations. The strategy aims to simultaneously secure technological maturity and management expertise, thereby increasing the survival prospects of researcher-founded startups.

"Even if university researchers possess excellent technologies, many hesitate to start businesses due to insufficient experience in corporate management or capabilities in sales, marketing, and fundraising," said Choi (CEO). "To solve this problem, we plan to discover promising technologies, connect them with external professional managers (CEOs), and provide comprehensive support for company building, from business model design and team formation to securing investments."

"Choi (CEO) also announced plans to build an investment network that transcends regional limitations. DGIST Technology Holdings is collaborating with major domestic venture capital (VC) firms to establish a 'Growth Acceleration Network' that ensures startups do not stall after seed funding due to lack of follow-on investments, progressing from seed to Series A and B rounds. In particular, beyond DGIST, they plan to actively utilize an 'Ultra-Wide Cooperation Network' connecting the technology commercialization and investment capabilities of four major science institutes: KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), and Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST).

"We plan to jointly discover technologies and startups held by each institute, share investment opportunities, and, when necessary, pursue cross-investments and joint fund formation," said Choi (CEO). "As technology holdings at science institutes are strengthening their venture investment capabilities and transforming into professional institutional investors, it is more effective to grow investment scale and networks through cooperation among individual institutional investors rather than competing with each other."

[Money Today startup media platform 'Unicorn Factory']