Hankook Tire & Technology Co. tires for electric vehicles displayed at the EV Trend Korea exhibition in Seoul, South Korea.
SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
South Korean automobile parts giant Hankook & Company Group, one of Asia’s largest tiremakers by sales, is launching its own corporate venture capital arm with a capital commitment of 15 billion won ($10.7 million), taking aim at AI, robotics and other deeptech sectors.
The firm, named Hankook & Company Ventures – a wholly owned subsidiary of the group’s holding company, Hankook & Company – said in its announcement last week that it will invest in sectors such as AI, robotics, aerospace technology and quantum computing. Its first fund is slated to support startups from seed to Series B, with a pool of several tens of billion of won, according to the company.
The CVC is the latest effort by Hankook to diversify away from tires. In January, the company acquired Hanon Systems, the world’s second-largest automotive thermal management solutions provider, for about $1 billion. The purchase boosted the group’s global assets to approximately $20 billion, positioning the group “as a global high-tech leader,” the company said at the time of the acquisition, as it “aims to maximize synergies through resource and technology integration.”
Under the Hankook & Company Group, Korea-listed Hankook Tire & Technology is a manufacturer of tires used in passenger cars, trucks, buses and other industrial vehicles. It last reported sales of 9.4 trillion won in 2024, with operating profit rising 32.7% year-over-year to 1.76 trillion won.
Founded in 1941, Hankook Tire’s roots date back to the 1950s, when the company’s founder, Cho Hong-jai, took over a ruined tire shop shortly after the end of the Korean War. Hong-jai’s son, Yang-rai, joined the billionaire ranks in 2013; he passed away in 2024. Yang-rai’s younger son, Cho Hyun-bum, is the group’s chairman, and has played a key role in spearheading Hankook & Company Ventures.
For the 84-year-old Hankook, the launch of a CVC marks its first formal VC entity, but it’s not its first foray into startup investing. In 2021, Hankook & Company collaborated with Seoul-based VC firm We Ventures to develop a “business portfolio” of companies developing autonomous mobility technology. Its first investment, 3D mapping startup Mobiltech, was founded in 2017 and last raised 3 billion won ($2 million) in January from CJ Investment, the CVC of billionaire Lee Jay-hyun’s CJ Corp. A former vice president of We Ventures, Jun Jin-won, will head up the Hankook & Company Ventures team. Jun previously held stints at Samsung Group’s venture capital arm, Samsung Venture Investment Corp., as well as Samsung Electronics.
In recent years, a wave of storied Korean conglomerates has made inroads into venture investing. The government’s relaxation of regulations on establishing CVCs in 2021 spurred the creation of new firms, such as the launch of Hyosung Group’s Hyosung Ventures and GS Holdings’ GS Ventures in 2022. In 2023, South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the formation of a CVC Alliance with 42 firms, while pledging to create a fund pool in excess of 8 trillion won ($5.7 billion) by 2025. Other examples include Naver D2 Startup Factory, known as D2SF, an arm of billionaire Lee Hae-jin’s tech giant Naver; and Prologue Ventures, the CVC of billionaire Euisun Chung’s automobile company Hyundai Corporation.
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