Sopoong Ventures raises $10M fund for Gangwon climate tech and healthcare startups
What's the deal? Climate tech investor Sopoong VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has closed the US$11.3M Hallym-Sopoong Gangwon Strategic Industry Investment Fund with Hallym University Technology Holdings. The two firms will act as co-general partners, backing early-stage companies in energy transition and healthcare across South Korea's Gangwon province.
Why now? The fund was selected as a regional-league venture capital manager in the second-year call for the Gangwon Strategic Industry Venture Fund. Of the US$11.3M total, the provincial programme contributed US$7.88M. The fund has an eight-year lifespan.
What's the endgame? The fund targets two areas: climate tech tied to rising power demand from AI data centres, and the convergence of bio and healthcare. On the energy side, it will invest in energy storage, battery management systems, distributed power, virtual power plants, and clean energy, using the Donghae AI data centre and the industrial base in Donghae, Samcheok, and Taebaek as testing grounds.
How is it structured? Sopoong Ventures will source and back startups, then support business model development and follow-on investment. Hallym University Technology Holdings will surface research from the university and its five medical centres, linking clinical proof-of-concept to commercialisation.
The fund combines venture capital's growth-support capacity with a university tech-holding company's commercialisation role. It aims to find companies that match regional industrial demand and connect them to the infrastructure they need to validate technology after investment.
Sopoong Ventures first entered Gangwon with the Gangwon Picnic Investment Fund in 2020. It was named a climate tech TIPS operator in 2025 and runs a climate tech fund with the Seoul city government.
"The Gangwon strategic industry fund is a meaningful attempt to create new growth drivers for regional industry by adding Sopoong Ventures' climate tech and deep tech investment capabilities to Gangwon's technology and resources," said partner Lee Hak-jong.
The signal: The fund is one of several sub-funds under Gangwon's US$125.8M strategic industry venture programme, which plans 12 sub-funds between 2025 and 2027. It reflects a broader shift in regional venture investment — from simply supplying capital toward tying public money and university research infrastructure to long-term bets on local strategic industries.
Read more: venturesquare.net
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
