Global blockchain company Ripple is establishing a large-scale investment fund based in Korea. Ripple is partnering with VivoPower International and Korea's Lean Ventures to establish the fund, which could be worth up to $300 million.
This fund is structured to increase institutional investment access to Ripple Labs' unlisted shares. While Ripple has previously focused on collaborating with global financial institutions on payment and remittance infrastructure, this fund is notable for its focus on capital market integration, particularly in Korea.
The fund, jointly operated by Vivopower and Lin Ventures, will primarily focus on securing Ripple Labs' preferred stock and unlisted shares. Fundraising and management will be focused on actively addressing demand from Korean institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals.
The industry interprets this fundraising as a signal that Korea's status in Ripple's Asian strategy has been elevated beyond a simple equity investment. Korea, a market with both high cryptocurrency trading volume and high technology adoption, has been attracting attention from global blockchain companies as a testbed and capital raising channel.
Some analysts believe Ripple's intention is to diversify its institutional investor base and lay the groundwork for a reevaluation of its corporate value amidst easing regulatory uncertainty in the US. By absorbing indirect investment demand for unlisted shares in Korea, Ripple can naturally connect with future IPOs and additional global capital raising strategies.
Vivopower will be responsible for the global investment network and structural design for the digital asset sector, while Lin Ventures will be responsible for the domestic investor network and fund management. This model, combining a global blockchain company with Korean capital, is expected to expand to other digital asset companies in the future.
This Ripple investment fund is expected to serve as a test case for whether Korea can move beyond a simple cryptocurrency consumer market and establish itself as a strategic financial hub for global blockchain companies.
