On the 4th, the venture industry expected that the recently frozen investment sentiment would ease due to the Constitutional Court's decision to uphold the impeachment.
Lee Jeong-min, secretary general of the Korea Venture Business Association, noted, "I hope that venture investments, which have been frozen, will be revitalized through this ruling."
A source in the venture investment sector said, "After investors largely withdrew from the domestic stock market due to political issues, venture capitalists had no choice but to invest more conservatively," adding that "if the startup support policies, which had virtually been halted, are resumed, investments may show signs of recovery."
Kim, who operates a startup in Goyang, stated, "An investment deal that was supposed to be concluded by December has been indefinitely postponed," adding, "I guess we need to keep an eye on the situation, but it’s fortunate that the ruling has come out."
The deepening funding difficulties of startups due to political uncertainty have been reflected in various metrics. According to data compiled by startup analysis platform Mark & Company, 81 domestic startups attracted approximately 409.4 billion won in new investments during the month of February. This figure is about a 17% decrease compared to the 492.8 billion won attracted by 87 startups during the same period of the previous year.
Even setting a longer period shows a clear investment bottleneck. According to data released by the venture investment platform The VC on the 4th, the total number of investments for domestic startups and small and medium-sized enterprises in the first quarter of this year was 243, a 24% decrease from the same period last year (384 cases). The total investment amount during the same period also decreased by about 4% to 1.2363 trillion won.
Lee Ji-young, a specialist at the Startup Alliance, stated, "It is true that we have overcome a major hurdle with this ruling, but the presidential election is still ahead, and the direction may change depending on who is elected as the next president," adding, "There still seem to be many areas that need to be watched closely."