Kona Venture Partners
Status
ACTIVE
Global HQ
Seoul, South Korea
Countries of investment
- South Korea
- United States
Investment stages
- Pre-seed
- seed
- Series A
- Series B
- growth (Series C+)
Industries
- AI
- Fintech
About
Kona Venture Partners is a Seoul based, gaming focused venture firm that partners with Nexon and Korean government programs to fund and scale game IP. It invests from seed to Series A and beyond via follow ons in studios building globally competitive games and AI enabled development tools, with a mandate to cultivate the next wave of Korean game IP.
Kona Venture Partners is a Seoul based, gaming focused venture firm that partners with Nexon and Korean government programs to fund and scale game IP. It invests from seed to Series A and beyond via follow ons in studios building globally competitive games and AI enabled development tools, with a mandate to cultivate the next wave of Korean game IP.
Investment Thesis
Kona’s thesis centers on backing new gaming IP with global potential, next generation live service games, and studios leveraging AI for game creation, from seed through growth. It deploys a public private gaming IP fund to activate early stage investment and follow on capital for high potential Korean game studios.
Manager's Experience
Led by Hyung-il Shin (Founder & Managing Partner), an 18+ year venture capital and private equity veteran across East Asia specializing in early-stage gaming studios and IP commercialization; Sun-woo Park (Managing Partner), former senior investment director at leading South Korean VC funds; and Ji-hoon Kim (Partner & Investment Director), background in tech investment banking and cross-border M&A in interactive media.
Team
Hyung-il Shin - Founder & Managing Partner
Sun-woo Park - Managing Partner
Ji-hoon Kim - Partner & Investment Director
Portfolio
Frost Giant Studios
NineArk
Sandy Floor