Founded by entrepreneurs with successful exits,
we put founders first
How we invest- 1-week review
- A single 20-minute interview
- Zero interference, full autonomy
What they say
Newlook (SWRL)
Inji Kim, CEO
I think of TheVentures as a 'startup team' that invests. Because they’ve built companies themselves, they deeply understand startups and founders. Their fast decisions save founders’ time. They already know early-stage hypotheses can be wrong, and decide quickly based on whether the team can navigate that process wisely and whether the market is big enough.
TheVentures runs an excellent follow-on fundraising program. Through it, we met 10+ VCs. When meetings weren’t going well, our investment manager personally called with advice.
There’s also a portfolio group chat where we get tons of information and help on IR, marketing, and going global.
Claythis
Luke Sungho Ahn, CEO
I truly enjoyed the fundraising process with TheVentures. TheVentures is one of the super rare VCs that follow Sand Hill Rd style with a touch of systematic approach. I am not sugarcoating here at all. It is a very different Korean VC you want to work with. Highly recommend working with them!
NUGU.MONEY
Anonymous founder
The fastest decision-making team among all investors I met during our seed round. They skip unnecessary formalities and only hold essential meetings. The whole team really understands early-stage founders. They’re the first VC I recommend to other early-stage startups.
TheVentures was founded by entrepreneurs
with successful exits
Changseong Ho & Jiwon Moon
TheVentures Founders
They founded Viki, a global video streaming platform, and sold it to Rakuten for more than $200 million. They started TheVentures to share what they learned from building a global company with the next generation of founders.
Our partners are former founders whose companies were backed by TheVentures
Chulwu Sean Kim
CEO & Partner
Sean co-founded Sellit with Chris in 2014 from a tiny room with a bunk bed. Sellit became a TheVentures portfolio company and was later acquired by Kakao.
He went on to serve as CPO at Bunjang, where he led product development, fundraising, and acquisitions.
After Bunjang was acquired by a private equity firm for $150 million in 2020, he returned to TheVentures to lead investments.
Daehyun Chris Kim
Partner
Chris co-founded Sellit with Sean. About a year later, Sellit became TheVentures’ first exit.
He later led the merger of Sellit and Bunjang and served as CCO at Bunjang.
After Bunjang was acquired by a private equity firm in 2020, he joined TheVentures as an investor.
Taesung Kim
Venture Partner
Taesung founded ParkingSquare (PARK HERE) in 2014, making it TheVentures’ first portfolio company. Kakao acquired the company in 2016.
With more than 15 years of experience in real estate development, urban planning, parking, IT, and mobility, he now supports founders as an investor and venture partner at TheVentures.
That’s why everything we do is designed around founders
Faster decisions, less time wasted
Founders’ time is their most valuable asset. We complete our review within one week and make investment decisions after a single interview. There’s no pitch presentation and no unnecessary back-and-forth. The entire process, from initial review to funding, takes less than three weeks.
See our investment process →Korea’s largest early-stage founder network
TheVentures has invested in more than 250 companies, building a unique community that connects founders with one another. Whether you need a quick answer or want to explore a new business opportunity, you can get support from people who have faced the same challenges.
Support for your next funding round
Through our Bridge program, we help founders spend less time fundraising and connect with more investors with less effort.
Hands-on operational support
We step in when founders need support and stay out of the way when they don’t.
For two of the toughest early-stage challenges—hiring and PR—we provide consistent support through dedicated in-house programs.
As a TIPS program operator, we achieved a 100% acceptance rate in 2024 through hands-on coaching.
We don’t chase noise; we look for signals
When we invested in Riiid—now one of our notable portfolio companies—its business looked very different from what it does today. Early-stage investing often means finding product-market fit together, so we don’t overemphasize how proven a company’s current business model is.
Instead, we focus on the market and the team. We invest in markets that may be small today but are growing quickly. We back teams that understand the heart of their business and can execute better than anyone else. We also back teams that take a different approach to problems others have failed to solve.
If this sounds like your team,
we’d love to hear from you