Altos Ventures is one of the leading investor firms that has supported the growth and development of over 50 high-growth technology companies. This first-stage Venture Capital firm has incubated over a dozen companies. The firm specializes in direct funding and fund of fund investments in seed rounds, early venture, mid venture, and even late venture companies.
Funds focussing on technology, South Korean startups
Altos Venture was founded in 1996 with a focus on investing in fast-growing consumer and enterprise technology companies at the initial scale, typically over $1 million in revenue. The venture capital’s basic philosophy is to nurture and develop businesses and companies that have the potential to operate at massive scale, around the world. Several Altos-backed companies have grown from modest beginnings to become unicorns earning more than $1 billion in revenue.
“We have worked with entrepreneurs for over a decade to build great ideas into great companies. We have the patience and staying power to partner with entrepreneurs to build market-leading companies,”
Han Kim, Managing Director & Co-Founder, Altos Ventures.
Headquartered in Silicon Valley in Menlo Park, California, Altos Ventures has actively invested across companies in North America and has a dedicated fund focussed for South Korean companies. The firm has an additional office based in Seoul, South Korea.
Strong foundation team with progressive philosophy
Altos Ventures has a solid foundation with its entrepreneur founding members and partners. The company’s members believe in uplifting young entrepreneurial talent with their philosophy of “We are patient builders, not deal pickers.”
- Han Kim, the Managing Director and co-founder is a Stanford University alumni, who served as a Captain in the US Army Corps of Engineers and served in Korea for two years as part of the job. Han Kim focusses on companies with significant business in Asia and serves on the boards of numerous Korea based private companies.
- Anthony Lee is another Managing Director of Altos Ventures and Stanford University Alumnus, with a major interest in software and digital media investments. Anthony began his career as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company and has published a national magazine.
- Ho Nam, a Managing Director and Co-founder of Altos Ventures, focusses on areas of software, mobile, and internet technologies. He began his VC career at Trinity Ventures and began his professional career at Bain & Company where he advised clients in technology, media, and consumer products industries.
- Hee-Eun Park (“Baki”) is an enterprising woman VC focussing on mobile and software investments in Korea. Before joining Altos Ventures, she was a co-founder and CEO of IUM, an Altos-funded company in Korea. To her credit, she has taken the company from a business plan to the largest mobile dating service in Korea, serving over one million subscribers.
Nurturing world-class companies through steady investments
Altos Ventures has invested in all sectors of information technologies including application and infrastructure software, systems, services, and components. Altos Ventures focuses on young technology companies and entrepreneurs. The firm can invest up to $10 million and has no minimum limit. Initial investments are typically $1 to 3 million and then followed by more rounds of funding over the company’s lifetime. The firm is especially active with the startups in the initial years, where growth stimulation is imperative. For its investment, Altos Ventures prefers to own a meaningful minority stake, usually over 20%.
Altos Ventures has also grown with its investments. The company manages over $200 million of institutional capital across several funds. Since 1996, Altos has formed six venture capital funds ranging in size from $50 million to $100 million. The firm has raised $324.9M across the 6 funds, one of them being Altos Ventures Korea Opportunity Fund II. This fund was announced on Mar 16, 2016 and raised $110 million. Altos Ventures active portfolio companies generate more than $7 billion dollars of annual revenue and employ over ten thousand people across a dozen countries.
Altos Ventures’ Korean portfolio has seen major success with companies like Coupang, Vonvon, Woowa Bros, Hyperconnect, etc., proving many stereotypes wrong for a Korean startup. The Korean startups that have funding backup from Altos Ventures are thriving in growth and creating a niche market for themselves.
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