Korea’s ‘AI Angel Club‘ has announced its investment of approximately KRW 25 billion in 67 startups and projects over the past nine years. In 2023 alone, it allocated around KRW 3.7 billion across 26 deals involving 14 startups, successfully attracting cumulative follow-on investments of about KRW 246 billion by focusing on early-stage investments in promising startups.

Comprising professionals and investment experts, including dentists and doctors, the AI Angel Club conducts regular monthly investor relations (IR) sessions to identify and invest in promising startups. This initiative significantly contributes to the energizing of the early investment ecosystem as an angel club.

The club has diversified its investment portfolio across a range of sectors beyond its core areas of medical and healthcare. These include AI, mobility, manufacturing, semiconductors, environmental sustainability, and aerospace.

Of the 67 companies in the AI Angel Club’s cumulative portfolio, 22 have been selected for the TIPS program, and 2 have successfully gone public.  Plasmapp, a bio-plasma deep tech company, has been listed on KOSDAQ, and MICRO-NX, which develops dental medical devices based on micro-motor technology, on KONEX.

Despite last year’s slowdown in the investment environment, the AI Angel Club’s portfolio companies such as QuantumCat, a gold nano-catalyst manufacturing company; Medipixel, a developer of medical AI-based software; Viva Innovation, operator of the health examination platform Good Doctor; and JIENEM, a residence hospitality company, have all successfully secured Series B investments.

Choi Sung-ho, the chairman of the AI Angel Club and a dentist, has established a total of 35 personal investment funds worth KRW 15.5 billion since 2019, continuing his investment activities as an executive member of the personal investment funds. In a notable move at the end of 2022, he collaborated with CNTTECH to form ‘AI Angel – CNTTECH Personal Investment Fund No. 2,’ securing contributions from the Fund of Funds of Korea.

Chairman Choi has stated, “This year, we are committed to actively seeking and investing in promising startups across various fields, including medical and healthcare. Despite the challenging investment landscape, we will actively support the sustainable growth of our existing portfolio companies by leveraging the professional skills and network of each club member.”