Korea Investment Accelerator (KIAC)
Seoul accelerator of Korea Investment Holdings. Backs pre-seed and seed startups in AI and deep tech.
🇰🇷 Gangnam-gu, Seoul · Founded 2021
Checks Up to ₩500M·Pre-seed to Series A
Korea Investment Accelerator is the early-stage accelerator of Korea Investment Holdings, set up in December 2021 in Seoul. It is a wholly owned subsidiary and invests the group's own money through its Hantu Barun Donghaeng Sherpa funds. Its Barun Donghaeng batch program backs founders before incorporation and startups up to three years old, with up to KRW 500 million per company. It also makes direct market investments and follow-on investments, and recommends portfolio companies to the TIPS program.
What they invest in
We invest in startups that use technology to benefit and change the world. We walk beside them as a sherpa, from the zero stage until they reach their final goal, the Z round.
- Check size
- Up to ₩500M
- Stage
- Pre-seed to Series A
- Fund
- Hantu Barun Donghaeng Sherpa Fund No. 4 · about ₩15B formed each year
- Closed 2025
- AI
- Robotics
- Materials & components
- Bio & healthcare
- SaaS
- South Korea
How to pitch
They read inbound pitches that match the criteria above.
Open to
- Pitches from founders
- Co-investment
- Mentoring founders
Takes investment proposals through a form on its site. Runs the Barun Donghaeng batch program several times a year, with mentoring and office space near Samseong Station.
Portfolio
Its site counts 131 portfolio companies and KRW 46.8 billion invested since 2022. Most deals are pre-seed and seed in Korean startups, with follow-on rounds for some. Main sectors are materials and components, AI, SaaS, robotics, bio and healthcare, and commerce platforms.
Some of the companies they have backed
The portfolio at a glance · 28 companies · 2022–2026 · 1 exit
Sectors
- Materials & components14%
- Fashion commerce7%
- Healthcare AI7%
- SaaS & AI7%
- Other46%
Stage when they invested
- Seed29%
- Series A4%
Where the companies are
- 🇰🇷 South Korea14%
- 🇺🇸 United States4%
28 companies named on the firm's portfolio page and in press and databases, as of Oct 2026. The firm has made more; its own site has the full list.
Co-investors and partners
Funds that invested in the same rounds.
