HYU Holdings partners with Farquhar VC to help S Korean startups go global

HYU Holdings has partnered with Singapore’s early-stage fund Farquhar VC to help early-stage university startups scale and thrive in overseas markets.

The partnership will allow HYU Holdings, a Hanyang University-based investment-holding company, to work closely with Farquhar VC to help South Korean startups to go global.

In a statement, both companies said that they will have to collaborate on investments into HYUH and Hanyang University affiliate startups and accelerate their internationalisation efforts into Singapore and the rest of the world.

HYU Holdings and Farquhar VC will also be working together to explore joint funding initiatives that they could use to invest and scale HYUH startups globally.

HYUH CEO and Professor Byung-Hee Lee said that both HYUH and FVC share the same dream to enable early-stage university startups to strategise, scale, and thrive in the overseas markets.

Both companies think that now is the best time to synergise the capabilities of both their organisations.

FVC Chief Investment Officer Jason Su said that university-originated startups, such as Beep and Roceso that are based in Singapore, must plan early for market expansion while they also focus on their domestic and commercial milestones.

He added that cross-border success depends on the strengths of the ecosystem players.

FVC is making the first close of its second fund called the FVC Green Future Fund.

HYUH, that was established in 2008, is the first university-based holding company in Korea that commercialises HYU technologies. It also invests on HYU and affiliate startups.

And HYUH has fo far invested in more than 50 startups from across several industry verticals.

Meanwhile, Farquhar, that was established in 2020, has already invested in over 20 startups and achieved at least two exits.

With its vast network of medium and large local enterprises across Southeast Asia, Taiwan and other parts of the globe, Farquhar aims to accelerate the growth of its startup investments through targeted market access.

In partnership with Farquhar VC, South Korea’s early-stage accelerator-cum-VC fund Bigbang Angels, also formed a global investment fund in Singapore last December 2022.