M&A expert to lead GS' corporate venture capital firm

GS Ventures CEO Heo Jun-nyeong

By Park Jae-hyuk

An investment expert, who handled international mergers and acquisitions previously at Mirae Asset and UBS, became the leader of the first corporate venture capital (CVC) firm established in Korea by a non-financial holding company.

According to GS Group, Vice President Heo Jun-nyeong of GS Holdings was appointed as the first CEO of GS Ventures, which was established last Friday as a wholly owned CVC subsidiary of the group's holding firm. CVC refers to the investment of corporate funds directly in external startup companies.

Heo is known for his career as chief financial officer of Hyperconnect, where he enabled the Azar video chat app operator to be sold for $1.7 billion last February to the Nasdaq-listed Match Group, which is well known for its dating app Tinder. He joined GS Group late last year, several months after the sale of the mega-size Korean startup.

Under his leadership, GS Ventures plans to make direct investments in promising Korean startups focusing on the bio industry, climate change solutions, resource recycling, retail businesses and renewable energies, all of which GS Group regards as its future growth engines.

After hiring additional experts in investment and risk management, the company will seek a license from the Financial Services Commission, so that it can start investing in startups with money raised from GS Holdings and the group's other affiliates.

In July 2020, GS Group set up GS Futures, a CVC entity in San Francisco, to invest in innovative startups there. However, the conglomerate had been unable to establish a CVC subsidiary in Korea, until a revision to the Fair Trade Act took effect Dec. 30 to allow non-financial holding companies to own financial subsidiaries intended for investments in startups.

“For our future growth in this fast-changing era with considerable uncertainties, we should expand our business ecosystem, where we cooperate with our partners,” GS Group Chairman Huh Tae-soo said in a press release. “Investing in innovative startups is the core strategy for our growth in the future.”