Peter Na has left South Korea-listed internet group Naver and joined venture capital firm Atinum Investment as regional head of its Singaporean office.
Founded in 1999, Naver began life as a Korean language search engine focused on the local market. It has since expanded its business to include news, email, instant messaging and gaming services, and operates in Japan, the United States, China, Vietnam, Taiwan and Thailand.
Naver has been an active corporate venturer, particularly across East, Southeast and South Asia, having teamed up with brokerage Mirae Asset Securities in 2018 to launch Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund.
Naver hired Na as Singapore-based director of Southeast Asia investments in 2017 to help it expand into the region. Its portfolio companies there include ride hailing service Grab and consumer credit provider FinAccel – both of which conducted reverse mergers in 2021 – as well as e-commerce platform Bukalapak, which is now listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange.
Regarding his departure from Naver, Na said in a statement posted on LinkedIn: “It has been an amazing and invaluable journey to work at this great company and I was very fortunate to meet and work with great colleagues, entrepreneurs and fellow investors who have taught me innumerable things and made me grow.”
Na’s new role will involve him leading Southeast Asia investments on behalf of Atinum Investment, which was founded in South Korea in 1988 and which has $12bn under management across 26 vehicles. The firm targets growth-stage IT, biotechnology and healthcare technology developers, and has a portfolio of more than 400 companies.
Image courtesy of Naver Corporation.
