[이데일리 김예린 김무연 기자] Smilegate Investment decided to separate Accelerator (AC) as a corporation within the year to strengthen its initial investment capabilities. The new corporations AC, Smilegate Invest, and Smilegate Asset Management will take charge of initial investment, venture investment, and investment in listed companies, respectively, making more systematic investment execution possible.
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According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 27th, Smilegate Investment plans to establish a new corporation by separating the initial investment team from AC in the second half of this year. Due to the sluggish stock price since the IPO, the ransom of unlisted companies has risen higher than that of listed companies, and the burden of follow-up investment is increasing as the ransom price of early companies that stand out among unlisted companies soars day by day. Since it is in the very early stage, it is important to find companies with low value but high growth prospects early, so each VC seems to be speeding up its initial investment.
In the case of Smilegate Invest, it has been discovering early-stage companies with a separate initial investment team within it. In the case of the very early stage, the initial investment team makes a small investment, and then the investment 1, 2, and 3 headquarters execute follow-on investments.
Although initial investment is possible in the current structure, the reason for separating the AC corporation is interpreted to be more advantageous in forming an individual investment association. Individual investment associations can be managed by individuals (angel investors) or corporations (accelerators, etc.). In order for a corporation to maintain the AC license, 40-50% or more of the total investment amount must be compulsorily invested in the initial company within 3 years of founding. Funds created with a VC account cannot be recognized, so the house, where VC is the main focus, is split because it is not easy to meet the initial investment ratio.
As the investee companies prefer houses with both AC, VC, and PE capabilities, it is also a compound plan to receive more ‘love calls’ from startups by increasing their own competitiveness.
If AC is separated, the new corporation AC will be in charge of initial investment, and Smilegate Invest will handle large-scale deals through traditional venture investment and internal PE team. Smilegate Asset Management is expected to be able to systematically allocate investment by corporation as it takes charge of real estate investment and overseas investment following pre-IPO and mezzanine investment.
In the VC industry as well as Smilegate, the case of having a separate AC corporation is becoming more frequent. Korea Financial Group has been conducting venture investment through Korea Investment Partners, but recently established a separate Korea Investment Accelerator to boost initial investment strength. Earlier, TS Investment and DSC Investment also took over AC and started vertical integration from the initial stage to follow-up investment. As the ransom of early-stage companies is soaring due to abundant liquidity, the VC industry is expected to be reorganized in such a way that AC enters promising early-stage companies first, and then makes additional investments in the VC and PE stages.
An official in the VC industry said, “With abundant liquidity, even early-stage companies are experiencing a rapid increase in ransom prices from seed to series stage, so it is very important to find good companies at the forefront. In order not to miss it from the beginning, the vertical integration of the earthenware corporation is becoming more frequent.”
