SoftBank Ventures Asia rebrands to SBVA, raises USD 150m Korea Venture Fund

SoftBank Ventures Asia is officially changing its company name to SBVA as of February 1st after The Edgeof acquired the company from SoftBank Group (SBG) in June of last year.

The new SBVA embraces the concept of technological singularities and the broader impacts of the virtues of artificial intelligence, reflecting its commitment to leading in this transformative era. It also reflects the continuity of its business domestically and internationally, highlighting the sustained connectivity with its partners, infrastructure and portfolio companies developed over the past two decades. SBVA is poised to actively seek out startups that will revolutionize various industries through innovative technology, building upon its ICT investment expertise.

The new SBVA has recently closed the “2023 Alpha Korea Fund,” with a total committed amount of approximately ₩200 billion ($150M). The funding amount significantly surpasses the initial target of ₩100 billion, underscoring the significance of successfully exceeding fundraising goals in a market downturn.

Investors (LPs) include Korea Development Bank (KDB) as the anchor LP, SBG, Hanwha Life, Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), Nexon, KB Capital and others.

SBVA, through this fund, aims to actively discover early to mid-stage startups that capitalize on technological innovations in ICT, such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and computing, and create new business opportunities. Major investment areas across industries include Enterprise Software, Healthcare, Content and Industrial Deep Tech.

Moving forward, SBVA plans to extensively support the international expansion of domestic startups leveraging its global investment capabilities and network.

According to JP( JoonyPyo) Lee, the CEO of SBVA, “Despite the venture investment winter, we were able to successfully conclude the establishment of this fund based on the trust of our investors. We will continue to actively engage in investment activities by closely listening to the concerns of entrepreneurs.”

Yoshimitsu Goto, the CFO of SBG stated, “We are delighted that SBVA that has expertise and network of the startup investment business for more than 20 years will make the new start with The Edgeof, an ecosystem builder and venture capital entity. As a LP, we are excited to join the first fund that the new SBVA has established.”

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