Silicon Valley VCs With $313 Billion in Assets Pledge More Investment in Korea

Lee Meets Silicon Valley Venture Capital Firms

Khosla Ventures, a16z Among Six Firms at San Francisco Event

National Pension Service Signs Investment Cooperation MOUs

President Lee Jae-myung brought together six of Silicon Valley’s biggest venture capital firms as he looks to forge stronger links between Korean startups and the investors that helped build global tech giants.

Lee hosted a "Silicon Valley Venture Investment Meetup" at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco on July 25. Attendees included Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla, Lightspeed Venture Partners co-founder Barry Eggers, New Enterprise Associates co-chief executive officer Tony Florence, Sequoia Capital partner Alfred Lin, General Catalyst Chief Executive Officer Hemant Taneja and Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, general partner Martin Casado.

The six firms are among Silicon Valley’s best-known kingmakers, having made early bets on companies including Apple, Nvidia, Google, Meta and OpenAI. Together, they oversee $313 billion in assets.

The National Pension Service signed separate memorandums of understanding with the six firms on investment cooperation on July 25. South Korea’s public pension fund said it will work with them to jointly identify promising innovative companies and global investment opportunities. The agreement marks a push by the NPS to expand into venture investing after concentrating on equities and alternative assets. Lee said promising Korean startups and global investors could create new growth opportunities for investors while giving startups a platform to expand into world markets.

The venture firms also signaled plans to step up investment in Korean companies. Casado said Korea has leading companies in manufacturing and semiconductors, along with strong engineering talent. Combining Korea’s hardware and manufacturing strengths with US software and artificial intelligence would benefit both countries. a16z opened a Seoul office last month.

Lin said Sequoia Capital was an early investor in Coupang and continues to maintain long-standing ties with Korea. The firm plans to keep increasing its investment in the country. Sequoia Capital has backed companies including Apple, Nvidia, Google, Airbnb, Stripe, Zoom and Snowflake.

Kim In-yup, Hankyung.com correspondent inside@hankyung.com