Bithumb expanding investment in startups

BTC Investment is expanding its investment in incubating the nation’s startups that develop future technologies such as blockchain, fintech and artificial intelligence (AI).

Established last January, BTC Investment is a venture capital unit of BTC Korea. It received an approval for venture capital businesses from financial authorities In December.

BTC Korea is also operating the nation’s largest crypto exchange Bithumb.

According to industry sources, BTC Investment has so far invested in 10 domestic startups including virtual reality (VR) developer EVR Studio. EVR Studio was named by American business magazine Forbes as one of “Asia’s 10 VR startups everyone should be watching right now.”

The venture capital also invested in blockchain developer KodeBox earlier this year.

Developing securities token offering (STO)-related technology platform jointly with its affiliate Bithumb, KodeBox offers total management platform, which is based on blockchain technology, for real assets such as real estate and paintings.

STO refers to issuances of cryptocurrencies using traditional assets, such as real estate, stocks and paintings.

BTC Investment also invested in algorithm-based investment platform developer IntelliQuant and AI-based image producing platform Brand New Technology.

“BTC Investment also plans to expand its investment range to other technology sectors such as biotechnology,” said a BTC Investment official.