Korea Development Bank (KDB) held the KDB V: Launch Southern Region Fund Session, a regional specialized venture platform, at the NextONE Busan IR Center on April 14.
Approximately 60 attendees were on hand, including VC fund managers for the 2025 Southern Region Growth Support Fund, local startups and venture investors.
KDB V: Launch is the nation’s first regional specialized venture platform launched by KDB in May 2023, embodying the vision of “Launching the Value and Victory of Ventures.”
The platform has been providing networking opportunities to help innovative companies located in the southern region attract investment and expand their business operations.
At the KDB V: Launch event held, IR sessions for startups to attract investment were conducted, along with introductions and investment strategy presentations by VC fund managers (BSK Investment, Quantum Ventures Korea, and K-Run Ventures) of the 2025 Southern Region Growth Support Fund.
In the startup IR sessions, Synergy (the development of energy efficiency and integrated energy management solutions), HG Solution (the development of special industrial cables), and Korea Quantum Computing (the development of quantum security and AI infrastructure operation solutions) made IR presentations, drawing attention from attending venture investors from the Seoul metropolitan area and the Busan region.
During the introductions and investment strategy presentations by the VC fund managers of the 2025 Southern Region Growth Support Fund, the three managers each introduced their future fund investment directions and strategies to startups located in the southern region of the nation, providing insights to local startups in urgent need of investment.
It has held a total of 29 sessions up to this point, achieving significant results such as 86 regional innovation companies conducting IR presentations and 33 companies successfully attracting a total of 265.3 billion won in investment (including 47.3 billion won from KDB).
“KDB will continue to enhance the operation of KDB V: Launch and contribute to the revitalization of innovation and venture ecosystems in the southern region through a customized comprehensive support system that organically connects the venture platform, direct investment and lending, and regional innovation funds,” a KDB official said.
Signing MOU with Hyundai Motor Group and policy financial institutions for Hyundai Motor Group’s Saemangeum Project
On April 6, KDB signed a financial cooperation MOU at the KDB headquarters with Hyundai Motor Group and policy financial institutions for the Hyundai Motor Group’s Saemangeum Project.
The signing ceremony was attended by Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eok-won, KDB Chairman Park Sang-jin, IBK President Jang Min-young, Export-Import Bank of Korea President Hwang Ki-yeon, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund Chairman Kang Seung-jun, and Hyundai Motor Group Vice Chairman Jang Jae-hoon.
In February, Hyundai Motor Group announced a plan to invest 8.9 trillion won in the Saemangeum region of Jeollabuk-do in fields such as AI data centers, hydrogen energy, and robotics.
KDB and others selected the Saemangeum Project as the first cooperation project of the Council of Policy Financial Institutions, which was launched in March.
This project is a detailed task in the field of the expansion of productive financial support and leadership of private finance among the seven core projects of the Council of Policy Finance Institutions, specifically support for establishing growth bases for advanced strategic industries through financial cooperation between companies and policy finance institutions.
The policy finance institutions including Korea Development Bank will jointly explore support measures for each institution and derive optimal financial support measures so that the Saemangeum Project will be able to become a model case for revitalizing ecosystems in national future strategic industries and growth led by local areas.
“This agreement is a starting point for organically combining innovative investments by Korean companies, strong support for them from the Korean government, and the capabilities of policy financial institutions,” KDB Chairman Park said.
“We, policy financial institutions, will step up our efforts to serve as a catalyst for Korea’s economic growth which supports corporate innovation and growth led by local areas and leads to the expansion of Korea’s future growth engines.”
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