Lee Hae-jin, the founder (chairman) of Naver, will visit Silicon Valley in June to meet with leaders of artificial intelligence (AI) startups. This is interpreted as seeking promising investment opportunities while establishing a new corporation called Naver Ventures in the U.S. This will be the chairman's first official overseas trip since returning in March.
According to industry sources on the 16th, Naver plans to establish a new investment corporation called Naver Ventures in the U.S. soon and will hold an investment networking event in Silicon Valley on June 5. It is reported that Chairman Lee will be joined by Choi Soo-yon, the representative of Naver, and Kim Nam-sun, among others. In addition to the networking event, Chairman Lee is expected to meet with executives from local leading AI corporations.
A Naver official noted that "Chairman Lee is scheduled to meet with engineers and entrepreneurs in the tech community in early June in the U.S."
Industry sources indicate that Naver will establish Naver Ventures in the U.S. separately from D2SF, which ventured into Silicon Valley last year. It is expected that this organization will be led by Kim Nam-sun, who headed the acquisition of the North American secondhand trading platform Poshmark in 2022.
Previously, Chairman Lee stated at the regular shareholders' meeting in March that Naver's AI business was underperforming, saying, "We are preparing to take more aggressive and active actions this year." Last month, Chairman Lee met with Donald Trump's eldest son, Trump Jr., in Seoul to discuss measures for AI collaboration.