The Invention Lab Research
Investment Thesis
The Invention Lab (TIL, 더인벤션랩) is a Seoul-based venture studio and licensed early-stage accelerator. It describes itself as a "venture building partner" that designs new businesses with corporations and carries them into growth. It started in open innovation (2017 to present), running programs for large and mid-sized Korean companies that cover startup sourcing, proof of concept, results and investment linkage. It is now moving from open innovation to a corporate venture studio model that it calls AI-driven.
Its stated core platform has four parts: blended capital financing, an operator talent pool, an infrastructure and validation system, and an LP and cross-border network.
Stage Focus
TIL invests almost entirely at Seed and Seed+, with some Pre-A. TheVC.kr counts about 195 Seed and 59 Pre-A rounds across 192 portfolio companies since 2018. TIL is a TIPS and LIPS operator, so it recommends portfolio companies into Korean government programs (TIPS, Seoul TIPS, LIPS) that add R&D funding. In 2025 it made 18 new TIPS recommendations and 22 new LIPS recommendations. Follow-on rounds are a regular part of the model: 15 follow-on investments in 2025.
Check Size
TheVC.kr lists an average execution of about KRW 179.6M (roughly US$125K to 130K), ranging from KRW 10M to KRW 4B. A 2026 program with heavy-equipment partners offers a minimum of KRW 50M. No official USD check range is published, so it is left unset in the structured fields.
Lead Tendency
Unknown. As a seed accelerator running TIPS and LIPS pipelines it usually writes the first institutional check, but the sources reviewed do not say whether it leads rounds.
Recent Activity
- 2025: 53 deals, KRW 8.07B deployed (38 new, KRW 4.77B; 15 follow-on, KRW 3.3B). 28 portfolio companies raised KRW 34.27B in outside follow-on funding. New funds of KRW 6.8B were formed (personal investment partnerships KRW 4.24B; venture fund KRW 2.56B).
- H1 2026: more than KRW 3.1B across 20 startups (AI, deep tech, cross-border commerce, healthcare, pet care, F&B, content IP, brand builders). Eleven were placed in the TIPS pipeline.
- Second half 2026: blind funds of KRW 8B confirmed, including a KRW 4B venture investment partnership, a KRW 2B personal partnership aimed at former Samsung group executives, and a KRW 2B open-innovation partnership. Annual deployment is expected to reach at least KRW 11.1B, up about 38.8% on 2025.
- July 2026: formed the G-Planet Advertising Media Venture Investment Association No. 1 (about US$3.35M) and made its first investment in OzX, a space, media and content operator.
- October 2026: eight new seed investments (Hyper Visual AI, Infinity Labs, The Medical Bridge, Evoconnect, Routinery, LikePlayX, Sushi Sakaba, TTF). Evoconnect and Routinery were selected for TIPS in Q3 2026.
- Fund status: actively deploying.
Portfolio Highlights
The website's featured venture studio cases are 앙호두 (local F&B franchise built for overseas expansion), 오케이쎄 (Vietnam used and electric motorbike marketplace) and 자라소프트 (Blur.me real-time face and object masking AI SaaS). Press reports name many more first-half 2026 investments, such as AIdQure, DevAll Company, Medicus, Ribora, NoiseX, Beston and Me2tu. TheVC.kr lists 192 portfolio companies in total.
Team
- Kim Jin-young: CEO and founder
- Kang Jae-min: Vice CEO, investment review
- Kim Min-su: Director, open innovation and investment review
- Jung Woon-young: Director, open innovation management
- Han Seung-hee: Director, corporate ventures and company building
About 15 employees as of August 2026.
Decision Process
Partnership with an internal investment review team. Deal sourcing comes from corporate open-innovation programs, its FINEDEAL platform, and inbound proposals through a public submission form. Warm intro requirement is unknown.
Founder Preferences
Early teams with a corporate-validated or market-validated idea. The firm leans toward Korean consumer goods and platforms that can reach Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam, and toward deep tech and healthcare teams that can qualify for TIPS.
Geographic Focus
South Korea first. Southeast Asia, mainly Vietnam, is a second focus: it runs The Invention Lab Vietnam, has Vietnam retail seed funds, and announced a Korea-Vietnam venture studio with Like Lion in November 2025. Related brands: SheVentures and AC:DC.