Capstone Partners is the first Korean VC to establish an asset securitization fund.
This asset securitization fund is a tail-end type limited liability investor (LP) secondary fund that was first implemented in Korea. When a new fund is established, the tailend transfers all remaining investment assets from the existing fund to the new fund, which is commonly used in the overseas VC market. Through this transaction, Capstone Partners sold the entire remaining portfolio of Capstone 3 Venture Investment Association, which was near maturity last year, as an asset-backed fund in March.
The newly formed asset securitization fund is jointly managed by Capstone Partners and Meta Investments, and major LPs include Korea Growth Finance. Capstone Partners, which has played an outstanding role as an excellent helper based on initial corporate investment know-how, and Meta Investment, which has been well received in the secondary fund field, are planning to actively support IPOs and M&As of portfolio companies.
In particular, in the existing Capstone 3 Venture Investment Association, portfolio companies with high potential to grow into unicorns, such as Jikbang, Watcher, Sendbird, and Myreal Trip, were nearing maturity of the fund, but unnecessary risks such as repayment of investments due to the transfer to an asset securitization fund. It is now possible to minimize and take a bigger leap forward.
Capstone Partners CEO Song Eun-gang said, “Amid the increasing number of promising startups that are attracting attention as domestic and international IPOs, VCs and investees are in a desperate need for more efficient funding and fostering plans as fund maturity arrives.” As we have successfully established a tail-end asset securitization fund, we will spare no effort to become an exemplary intermediate recovery model, and we will continue to take the lead in creating a sustainable venture investment ecosystem.”
Meanwhile, Capstone Partners, established in 2008, is a venture capitalist with long initial corporate investment experience and possesses leading portfolios such as Curly, Textile, and Carrot Markets. Despite the recession caused by Corona 19 last year, investments to discover early companies will continue, and “Capstone 2020 Growth Support, worth 39 billion won, which will lay the foundation for stable growth with a duration of up to 12 years according to the life cycle of startups Investment Association’, and based on these achievements, it was awarded the’Best innovative House’ category at the ‘2021 Korea Venture Capital Awards’ in February, and was recognized for its investment creativity through novel financial techniques.