Woori Financial Builds Startup Investment System, From Discovery to IPO

Woori Financial Group has moved beyond financial support centered on simple lending to build a "continuous venture capital supply system," in which affiliates take over roles at each growth stage of a startup. The plan is to fully launch an investment ecosystem that supports the entire growth process—from early-stage discovery to follow-on investment and initial public offering (IPO)—within a single financial group.

Woori Financial held a conference on Monday at its headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, organized by the Woori Finance Research Institute under the theme "The Future of Innovation Drawn by Productive Finance," where it unveiled its startup support system, achievements, and future vision. Woori Financial had earlier announced a productive and inclusive finance plan totaling 90 trillion won over the next five years, of which it plans to use 7 trillion won for productive investment.

The core of the continuous venture capital supply system is a structure in which affiliates continue investment and financial support in line with a startup's growth stages. For early-stage companies, Dinolab—the group's startup incubation platform—and the Dinolab Fund handle discovery and initial investment, while at later growth stages, a corporate venture capital (CVC) fund takes charge of follow-on investment.

Dinolab is Woori Financial's startup incubation platform. Over the past seven years, 231 startups have been discovered and nurtured through Dinolab, and the group's cumulative startup investment amounts to 470 billion won in total. Woori Financial plans to expand the CVC fund, centered on Woori Financial Capital, across the group's major affiliates to continuously increase venture capital supply to promising innovative companies.

As companies enter the growth stage, Woori Venture Partners and Woori Investment & Securities join in. Woori Venture Partners handles follow-on investment in innovative companies with high growth potential, while Woori Investment & Securities supports companies' fundraising and scale-up through IPO underwriting and capital market linkage. Through this, Woori Financial's plan is to build a structure in which funding continues from the early startup stage through to IPO.

Woori Financial is also focusing on fostering venture ecosystems outside the Seoul metropolitan area to promote balanced regional development. To address the limitations of a venture ecosystem concentrated in the metropolitan area, it is expanding local Dinolab centers. Currently, Dinolab operates two centers in Seoul, four in South Gyeongsang, North Chungcheong, Busan, and North Jeolla, and one in Vietnam.

Going forward, Woori Financial plans to advance the continuous venture capital supply system—running from Dinolab through the CVC fund, venture investment, and IPO—and to build an investment ecosystem in which funding does not break off at any growth stage of innovative companies, based on collaboration among affiliates.

Yim Jong-yong, chairman of Woori Financial, said, "Now finance must evolve beyond simply supplying funds into 'investment-oriented productive finance' that invests in the possibilities of the future, and at its center is venture capital." He added, "Woori Financial will actively support innovative companies, with all affiliates joining forces so that they can secure the investment and business opportunities they truly need."