Hashed partner Kim: Plans to raise $170 million for the second fund

Author: Heesu Lee

Original Title: 《Crypto Investor Who Bet on Ether Eyes New Blockchain Fund》

Translated by: Gu Yu

As Simon Seojoon Kim said, he started investing in ETH in 2015, which is a cryptocurrency that powers the Ethereum network.
Kim's friends told him he was crazy when he invested a large portion of his life savings into cryptocurrency. By the end of March 2017, he had invested nearly $400,000.
Then ETH began to climb.
While Kim's investments are difficult to verify, one thing is indisputable: the value of ETH has skyrocketed compared to early 2017. Over the past year, it has risen more than tenfold. Meanwhile, Kim has become one of South Korea's most prominent blockchain advocates. After raising his first blockchain fund in December, he plans to establish a second one this month.
"He is like Yoda, the Jedi master in the cryptocurrency industry," said Sean Park, a senior partner and managing director at Boston Consulting Group in Hong Kong, who has collaborated with Kim on blockchain projects.
Kim is part of the emerging wealthy class that is making money through cryptocurrency. The two largest tokens, BTC and ETH, continue to fluctuate wildly but have both reached all-time highs this year.
"The most successful investments are when you find a fundamentally strong asset that either hasn't received much attention or is viewed negatively," Kim said in an interview in Seoul, discussing his early crypto bets.
The 36-year-old entrepreneur is a software developer who has built and sold two companies: one in educational technology and the other a dating app.
In 2018, he co-founded Hashed, a venture capital firm for blockchain projects. It holds stakes in companies and helps them grow, including arranging partnerships, providing financial advice, and even assisting with public relations.
Hashed raised $120 million for its first blockchain fund in December. According to semi-annual business reports from two companies, its backers include South Korean giants Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp.
Kim said Hashed now plans to raise at least 200 billion won ($173 million) for its second fund this month.
Hashed typically invests between $1 million and $10 million in each company. After a seed round in 2019, it participated in a $7.5 million funding round for Vietnamese game maker Sky Mavis alongside billionaire Mark Cuban in May. Kim said it also invested $2.5 million in Indian game streaming platform Loco.
But Hashed has attracted major internet companies like Naver, which is the third-largest publicly traded company in South Korea by market capitalization. According to Naver, Hashed has the most experience in the blockchain field, and to date, the company has disclosed an investment of 14 billion won in Hashed's first fund.
"Our investors want to maximize their profits," Kim said. "But they also want to understand the market through us."
Kim Kyung-hwan, dean of the Graduate School of Entrepreneurship at Sungkyunkwan University in Suwon, near Seoul, sounded cautious.
"Given that the blockchain industry is brand new, unpredictability could be a short-term risk," he said. "However, I believe this is a market that will eventually institutionalize and grow."
Kim stated that there is significant upside potential since the blockchain technology market is still in its infancy. But in crypto trading, he encourages inexperienced individuals to be cautious when trying to get rich quickly.
Sitting in a room named after Bitcoin's mysterious creator Satoshi Nakamoto, Kim said he still holds most of his Ether. He mentioned that he is also a major investor in a token called Luna.
However, when it comes to traditional investments like bonds and commodities, Kim is reluctant to get involved. He said he even lives in a rented apartment with his wife instead of buying his own property.
"Traditional assets don't align with my interests," Kim said. "They just seem too old and outdated."