Korea Telecom (KT), the country’s main phone operator, has committed to a KRW1 trillion ($830m) corporate venturing fund to invest in the local smartphone industry.
The fund, Mobile Korea Renaissance Fund, will be directly managed by Korean conglomerate Woongjin’s venture capital subsidiary, Woongjin Capital, ledby its vice president, Kyoung Hwan Kim. KT will also look for other investors to join the fund as limited partners before its launch in October, according to news provider Korea Herald.
South Korea is home to the world’s second and third-biggest handset makers, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, which together have about 30% of the global market but less than 5% of the smartphone market.
The number of smartphone users for KT increased to 1.1 million in June, up from 28,000 12 months earlier after it introduced Apple’s iPhones for the first time in November.
Picture: KT Corp from the Korea Herald: KT chairman Lee Suk-chae (right) and Yoon Seok-keum, chairman of Woonjin Group, pose for a photo after signing an agreement to launch the smartphone fund.