The Korea Venture Investment Co. (KVIC) and Cisco announced that SkyLake Incuvest & Co. has been designated as the manager of a new investment fund to support Korean IT innovation.
The new fund, named “SkyLake Global Incuvest 4 (SGI4)”, was formally submitted to the Korean Financial Services Commission for approval today.
SkyLake will focus on investing in small and medium-sized enterprises in IT and new growth-engine industries. SGI4’s first closing is 100 billion KRW (US $80m) and will be active for eight years. KVIC, the Korean government-backed fund-of-funds manager, the Korea National Pension Service, Tongyang Life Insurance and Cisco are co-investors in the fund.
In an official statement, Hilton Romanski, vice president of Corporate Development at Cisco was reported as saying “Korea is world-renowned as a leader in ICT innovation, and Cisco’s anchor investment in the SGI4 fund underscores our belief in the innovative technology and ideas in this exciting market.
“Strong local venture capital and limited partners are the foundation for successful engagement, and the fact that Cisco is moving forward with a commitment of 40b KRW (US $32m) for the fund is indicative of the strength of SkyLake”.
Daeje Chin, CEO of SkyLake Incuvest, added: “Skylake Incuvest has a long-standing belief in the value of network technologies as a platform for innovation and looks forward to collaborating with Cisco in establishing this new fund. Korea Fund of Funds’ involvement in this initiative acted as a vital factor in completing the first closing of the fund, and we plan to show our gratitude by executing investments where both investor and investee come out as winners”.
FinSMEs
02/09/2009