[Edaily Marketin, Reporter Soyoung Park ] “Engineering majors, experience at large corporations, and a background in deep tech investment.”

These are the key characteristics of the talent currently attracting attention in the venture capital (VC) industry. Major firms are being selected one after another as general partners (GPs) for government policy fund investment projects and have begun forming funds. As a result, competition among these firms to recruit talent capable of effectively managing investments is intensifying. It is widely believed that so-called “tech-specialized investment analysts” are becoming highly sought-after professionals.

According to the domestic investment banking (IB) industry on the 28th, competition among firms is intensifying to recruit tech-specialized investment analysts who will execute investments in startups in the “high-tech industries” sector. This is because firms selected as GPs for policy funds, such as the National Growth Fund, are preparing to establish funds and begin full-scale investment execution.

An official in the VC industry revealed, “The trend is not toward hiring entry-level investment analysts but rather toward recruiting experienced professionals,” adding, “They seem to prefer candidates who have an engineering background, experience working at large corporations like Samsung or SK, and have made at least three to four deep-tech investments since entering the VC industry.”

He continued, “Just as companies were scrambling to recruit developers during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, competition to recruit tech-specialized investment analysts is fierce in the VC industry as well,” adding, “Some firms are hiring three to four experienced investment analysts at a time,” to describe the current industry climate.

Hanwha Investment & Securities’ VC team, which posted a job opening on the 27th, is a prime example. The firm announced it was hiring investment analysts, stating, “We have recently been selected as a general partner (GP) for the National Growth Fund and are expanding our investment scope.” According to the posting, the qualifications and preferred criteria—including “at least three years of VC investment experience” and “preference given to experts in science, engineering, and industry”—are particularly noteworthy.

Last month, K2 Investment Partners also posted a job opening for investment analysts. The firm listed the following qualifications: △ at least 5 years of VC investment experience; △ at least 3 years of industry experience; and △ experience in deep tech fields (such as semiconductors, materials, components, and equipment; AI and software; and robotics).

In addition, We Ventures posted a job opening last April for an experienced investment analyst capable of evaluating biotech, deep tech, or manufacturing sectors. The firm also listed candidates with industry experience—in addition to those with backgrounds in VC or securities firms—as eligible applicants. It further specified that preference would be given to candidates with experience in technology-related industries (such as biotech, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, future mobility, robotics, and quantum computing).

There are also a significant number of government-led deep-tech policy funds being established this year. Through the National Growth Fund, the government has decided to inject approximately 30 trillion won into the advanced strategic industries ecosystem this year. Among these, general policy funds include △support for the industry as a whole △scale-up △specific industries △ultra-long-term technology investment. In particular, the ultra-long-term technology investment sector will be established with a scale of 880 billion won. On the 14th, the Financial Services Commission selected seven general partners (GPs) for the ultra-long-term technology investment fund. After raising capital and establishing the funds, these GPs are expected to begin investing as early as the end of this year.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups aims to accelerate the cultivation of AI and deep tech unicorns this year through the master fund. In April, the ministry selected venture funds totaling 824.4 billion won for the startup and scale-up sectors under the Next-Generation Unicorn Cultivation Project. At the time, the ministry stated that most of the selected GPs planned to finalize fund formation by July and begin full-scale investments in the second half of the year.

A capital market official said, “In a situation where industry expectations and capital are concentrated on specific companies due to investment concentration, it is not easy to break into that market without a network,” adding, “The investment market is expected to pick up in earnest starting at the end of the year, and since many firms need to quickly deploy their fund capital, they appear to be trying to secure opportunities through tech-specialized investment analysts.”