Hanyang University Holdings (HYUH), South Korea’s first university-based investment-holding company, has on Friday announced its partnership with Singapore homegrown early-stage innovation ecosystem enabler Farquhar VC (FVC), to enable Hanyang University (HYU) and South Korean startups to thrive in the global stage.
Under the partnership, HYUH and FVC will collaborate on investments into HYUH and HYU affiliate South Korean startups, and to accelerate their internationalization efforts into Singapore and the world.
Also, FVC will join HYUH as its consortium partner in the TIPS initiative, and both HYUH and FVC will explore joint funding initiatives to invest and scale HYUH startups on the global stage.
HYUH Chief Executive Officer Prof Byung-Hee Lee said that both HYUH and FVC share the same ambitions to enable early-stage University startups to strategize, scale, and thrive in overseas markets, and it is a timely opportunity to synergise the capabilities of both organizations.
Meanwhile, FVC Chief Investment Officer Jason Su said that University-originated startups such as Beep and Roceso in Singapore have to plan early for market expansion while keeping their focus on domestic commercial milestones, and cross-border successes are dependent on the strengths of the ecosystem players.
He said he looks forward to using FVC’s extensive network to enable HYUH and HYU affiliate startups to achieve meaningful traction in Singapore, South East Asia, and the world.
Established in 2008, HYUH is the first university-based holding company in Korea that commercializes HYU technologies and invest into HYU and affiliate startups.
To-date, HYUH has invested into more than 50 startups across several industry verticals.
Established in 2020, FVC is a Singapore-based Venture Capital fund management company, which has invested in more than 20 startups and achieved 2 exits to-date.
The FVC founding partners were previously from the investments department of NUS Enterprise, which nurtured various ASEAN unicorns such as Shopback, Carousell, and Patsnap.
FVC aims to accelerate the growth of its startup investments through targeted market access with its vast network of medium and large local enterprises across South East Asia, Taiwan and other parts of the globe.
FVC is in the midst of conducting its first close of its second fund, FVC Green Future Fund.