South Korea (officially the Republic of Korea) has become one of the fastest-growing markets in South-east Asia over the last decade, attracting many talented entrepreneurs to start new businesses in the region. In fact, the South Korean startup scene is one of the top emerging startup ecosystems in the world. Angel investors play a critical role in expanding the pipeline of investible businesses by providing early-stage ventures with essential resources including capital to bridge the funding gap and by sharing their expertise and networks to unlock business opportunities that facilitate growth.
We have compiled a list of active angel investors who are spearheading South Korea’s tech renaissance. They are venture capitalists, hedge fund managers, and entrepreneurs who scour South Korea for startups from Seoul to Busan. If there is sufficient interest, the angels may offer mentorship, referrals, or further collaboration.
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List of top angel investors in South Korea (ROK)
1. Matthew Shampine:
Matthew Shampine is the Co-Founder and CEO of Dongnae, a modern real estate discovery and service platform based in Seoul. Prior to founding Dongnae, Matthew was on the founding team of WeWork and co-founded WeWork Labs- WeWork’s startup incubator with over 100 locations on five conitinents. He is also on the Board of Directors of Global Overseas Adoptees’ Link (G.O.A.’L).
Sector: Consumer Internet, Mobile, Advertising, SaaS, Financial Services.
Portfolio: inDinero, Rukkus, Awair, Squire.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn | Twitter | AngelList
2. Jung-hee Ryu:
Jung-hee Ryu is currently the Partner and Chief Executive Officer at FuturePlay, a venture capital firm based in South Korea. Jung-hee Ryu is an active angel investor , mentor and he has invested in many startups spread across South Korea. He has also been a Partner at FoundationX, a global blockchain accelerator.
Sector: Clean Technology, Consumer Internet, Healthcare, E-Commerce, Robotics.
Portfolio: Collabee, Fave, Kono.ai, Qeexo.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn | AngelList
3. Taekkyung Lee:
Taekkyung Lee is the Founder and Representative Partner at Mashup Angels, a startup network focused on early-stage startups in Korea. Taekkyung Lee also works as an Advisor in FuturePlay Inc. He is a serial entrepreneur and investor, and he is very much passionate about investing in early-stage startups. Taekkyung Lee is also the Venture Partner at Big Basin Capital.
Sector: Mobile, Social Media, E-Commerce, Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software.
Portfolio: Noom, Zaiseoul, Finda, FriendsCube.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn | AngelList
4. Chester Jungseok Roh:
Chester Jungseok Roh is the Former CSO of 5Rocks, an Information Technology company. He is currently the Co-Founder and CSO of Reality Reflection. Chester Jungseok also worked as a Product Manager at Google Korea after his last startup Tatter&Company, which was later acquired by Google in 2008. He’s also been an active angel investor and business mentor for many startups.
Sector: Information Technology, Healthcare, Mobile Commerce, E-Commerce, Social Games.
Portfolio: Dialoid, StyleSays, Tapas Media, Ticket Monster.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn | AngelList
5. Sungjae Hwang:
Sungjae Hwang is a serial entrepreneur and investor. He is currently the CEO and Founder of LoungeLab, an Information and Technology company. Sungjae Hwang is also the Co-Founder and Venture Partner at FuturePlay. Sungjae Hwang has done his Ph.D. from Korea Advance Institute of Science and Technology.
Sector: Mobile, Healthcare, SaaS, Consumer Internet, Robotics.
Portfolio: Venditz, 6gram, SloWave, Jellycoaster Inc.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn | AngelList
6. Sameul Hwang:
Previously a Founder and CEO of New Pathway Education ( acquired by CVC Capital Partners). Sameul Hwang is currently the Founder and CEO of NPX Capital and NPX TeraArk. Sameul Hwang is an engineer, entrepreneur and investor. He has actively invested in many startups in South Korea. He is also the Board Member of hodoolabs.
Sector: Ed-Tech, E-Commerce, Fin-Tech, Mobile Games, Consumer Internet.
Portfolio: Riiid, Point Avenue, SmartStudy, Paragon One.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn | AngelList
7. Michael Hwang:
Michael Hwang is the Managing Director at Bigbang Angels, a seed accelerator in Korea. Michel started his career as a software engineer in Samsung Electronics and was a serial entrepreneur and consultant in LG CNS. Michael Hwang is also the Board of Director at Across Asia Alliance, a startup community with more than 40 global accelerators and VCs and large corporations.
Sector: AI, Healthcare, E-Commerce, Consumer Internet, SaaS.
Portfolio: Nudge Now, STORE Camera, CrowdWorks, Zipdoc.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn | AngelList
8. Jeremy Jhonson:
Jeremy Jhonson is the Senior Director- Service Provider Sales- Asia Pacific at Nutanix, a computer software company. Before joining Nutanix, Jeremy was the Vice President at Qwilt. He has a track record of successfully setting up and growing telecom-related businesses in the Asia Pacific Region.
Sector: Telecommunications, Enterprise Software, Consumer Internet, Fitness.
Portfolio: Footprint, Human Longevity, Securifi.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn | AngelList
9. Oliver Blakey:
Oliver Blakey is the Managing Partner at Ascensive Assets, a private investment firm focusing solely on digital asset industry. He also Co-Founded BMO Consultancy. His previous experience of 8 years as a professional poker payer has given him vast knowledge and experience that is necessary to understand financial edges, investment exploits and psychological aspects of private investor mindsets.
Sector: Fin-Tech, Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, Ed-Tech.
Portfolio: Bnext, bitsdaq, Verse, LearnLife.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn | AngelList
10. Henry Chung:
Henry Chung is the Former Founder and CEO of eCommunity. He is currently the Managing Partner at KAIST Venture Investment Holdings. Henry Chung has managed to help small startups grow into large scale businesses with substantial growth and profit. Henry has earned his MBA from Seoul National University.
Sector: Enterprise Software, Ed-Tech, E-Commerce, SaaS.
Portfolio: Ramsway, CallGate, Coinplug.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn | Twitter
11. Richard Min:
Richard Min is currently the Co-Founder and Executive Partner at Startup Seoul, an acceleration platform of innovation for startups. He is also the Managing Director at Fashion Technology Accelerator, a program in Seoul exclusively dedicated to startups at the intersection of fashion and technology.
Sector: Fashion, Digital Media, Consumer Internet, E-Commerce, Mobile Games.
Portfolio: Miso, ROOY, AtriaStyle, Shakr Media.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn | AngelList
12. Michael Song:
Michael Song is a serial entrepreneur, mentor and investor. Michael is the Co-Founder of YSK Media & Partners, a management consulting firm. He is also an Advisor at YAP Chain, Singapore. Michael Song focuses on helping entrepreneur on the right business strategy and he also helps them on scaling up businesses sustainably.
Sector: Big Data, Consumer Internet, Social Games, Healthcare.
Portfolio: Zepl, ONOFFMIX, Heybread.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn | AngelList
13. JongKap Kim:
JongKap Kim is the Chief Executive Director at Born2Global Centre. For 20 years, he has supported Korean Startups in Silicon Valley. Prior to Born2Global Centre, he was the founding member and CEO of ETRI Silicon Valley. JongKap Kim has supported over 2000 startups penetrating in the global market. He completed a Ph.D. course at Vanderbilt University in France.
Sector: SaaS, Consumer Internet, Media & Entertainment, Biotechnology.
Portfolio: Buzzvil, Cloudike, Dable, Doongle.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
14. Kihong Bae:
Kihong Bae is the Managing Partner at Strong Ventures, Korea. Before joining Strong Ventures Kihong Bae was working as a General Manager at Musicshake, Inc. Kihong Bae is an active angel investor and a mentor. He actively invests in startups based in Korea. He has earned his MBA from University of Pennsylvania – The Wharton School.
Sector: Digital Media, Mobile, Consumer Internet, Ed-tech.
Portfolio: BOOKOOB, Miso, Korbit, Tapas Media, Vitalhint.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn | AngelList
15. Sean Park:
Sean Park is the Co-Founder and CEO of Energy X, an AI-driven online energy platform based in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Sean Park has also been a Assistant Portfolio Manager at AXA Investment Managers. He is also the Co-Founder of X Chain, an ultimate logistics and supply chain company for renewable energy.
Sector: Big Data, Consumer Internet, Clean Technology, AI.
Portfolio: Soomgo, Tricubics, Riid, Creative X, YM Tech.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn | AngelList
16. Shina Chung:
Shina Chung is the CEO and Managing Partner at Kakao Ventures. Before Joining Kakao Ventures, she was a General Manager at Naver Business Platform. Shina joined Kakao Ventures with a strong desire to help talented entrepreneurs realize their dreams and provide meaningful support to startups success.
Sector: Real Estate, Consumer Internet, Healthcare, Ed-tech.
Portfolio: LifeLabs, Swift, Sugarhill, Cenacel.
Connect With Her: LinkedIn
17. Jimmy Kim:
Jimmy Kim is the Co-Founder and General Partner at SparkLabs, a startup accelerator founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs in South Korea. Jimmy Kim is the Former President of N3N an IoT platform company and Cisco’s first global IoT investment. Jimmy received his B.S. in Bio Medical Engineering from Northwestern University.
Sector: Mobile Games, Enterprise Software, Consumer Internet, E-Commerce.
Portfolio: Studio Ex, Bitsensing, CrePASS, Tkit.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
18. Simon Kang:
Simon Kang is the General Partner and CEO of Bon Angels. He is an experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the venture capital and private equity industry. Simon Kang is a serial entrepreneur and an active angel investor. Simon Kang actively invests in early-stage tech startups in South Korea.
Sector: AI, Games, Healthcare, Education, Consumer Internet, Prop-tech.
Portfolio: Tenuto, lemonbase, KukuDocs, Conactus.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
19. Jun-Year Kang:
Jun-Year Kang is a Co-Founder and Partner of Bass Investment, focusing on investments in platform services and innovative problem solving teams. Previously he was a Chief Service Officer of Kakao and a Head of Search Service at Naver. Jun-Year Kang received BS in Economics from Seoul National University.
Sector: Consumer Internet, Ed-tech, Enterprise Software, Healthcare, E-Commerce.
Portfolio: Heybit, TravelWallet, Cenacle, Sming.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
20. Jun Kim:
Jun Kim is a Partner at Kakao Ventures, South Korea. Jun Kim is leading the discovery and investment of technology-based startups with the belief that innovative technology advances the future. Jun Kim actively invests in tech-startups spread across South Korea. Jun Kim also Co-Founded Ideaworks in 2005.
Sector: Consumer Internet, SaaS, Enterprise Software, Ed-Tech, Fin-Tech.
Portfolio: Standigm, UVify, Lunit, Dable.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
21. Bernard Moon:
Bernard Moon is a Co-Founder and Partner at SparkLabs Group. Bernard was previously Co-Founder and CEO of Vidquik, a web conferencing and sales solutions platform. He serves on the advisory boards to Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Data Science and Nanyang Technological University’s EcoLabs.
Sector: E-Commerce, Healthcare, Fin-Tech, Consumer Internet, Digital Media.
Portfolio: PlayKeyboard, Spiceware, whelp, tkit.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
22. Yoon Jong-il:
Yoon Jong is a Partner at Bon Angels. He has also worked as a Chief Operating Officer at MyMusicTaste. Yoon Jong is an active angel investor and mentor. Yoon Jong focuses on helping entrepreneurs on the right business strategy and also helps entrepreneurs to scale up their business sustainably and achieve operational excellence. He also founded Revlix, which later got acquired by Enswers in 2011.
Sector: Education, Healthcare, Consumer Internet, AI, E-Commerce.
Portfolio: Albam, breezm, Flexity, SemiFive, Desilo.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
23. Phil Yoon:
Phil Yoon is the Founder and General Partner of Big Basin Capital. Since founding Big Basin Capital, he has raised two seed-stage funds and invested in more than 20 startups in Korea. Phil serves on the board of many companies he backed, including ODK Media, Kong Studios, Goodtime and Swingvy. Phil Yoon received an MBA with Honors from the Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania.
Sector: Biotechnology, Healthcare, SaaS, Consumer Internet, E-Commerce.
Portfolio: Pething, Classum, Medic, Storets.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn