New Paradigm Investment signs partnership with five pet companies

New Paradigm Investment announced on the 8th that it had signed an MOU for the “9th Business Collaboration Seminar in the Pet Sector and Joint Commercialization,” as it steps up investment in startups that are showing early traction and aiming to capture a share of the fast-growing pet market.

New Paradigm Investment CEO Park Je-hyun said that five key pet-sector portfolio companies took part in the MOU: Yaongseom, Objectivo, Blockpet, Petfarm and Vetech Korea.

Under the agreement, the companies will actively pursue joint business initiatives through mutual investment and cooperation in personnel and resources; collaborate on government-funded project consortia and joint R&D; enter global markets together, including by developing overseas markets; and cooperate on securing other joint commercialization projects.

Park said, “The five pet-sector investment companies, including New Paradigm, plan to promote growth through regular collaboration and exchanges, build a united front in the pet business, and generate results by commercializing projects jointly with more established companies and connecting newer companies with business opportunities.”

Park added, “We will continue to identify promising pet-sector startups early and support them with initial investment, TIPS selection and follow-on investment, helping them secure the key performance indicators and growth capital they need to become baby unicorns.”

New Paradigm Investment formed its fifth fund, worth 11.1 billion won, last August and is investing in and supporting ICT and healthcare startups in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In early March this year, it announced its “2022 Baby Unicorn Development Program,” a plan to rapidly invest in 15 promising startups across sectors including the metaverse, NFTs, pets, digital healthcare and commerce, as well as ICT fields such as AI, SaaS and digital transformation.

After making initial investments of about 200 million to 500 million won, New Paradigm plans to provide tailored support, including △immediate recommendations for the TIPS program (500 million to 700 million won) △help securing additional funding through KIBO Angel and KODIT U-Connect (300 million to 1 billion won in guarantee support) △about 500 million won in follow-on investment for portfolio companies that refine their business models and demonstrate early traction. It also plans to invest more than about 2 billion won alongside partner companies.

Yaongseom and Objectivo, which participated in the agreement, operate vertical commerce businesses by developing lifestyle-oriented products for cats and dogs.

Blockpet uses biometric facial-recognition technology to identify individual animals, while Petfarm and Vetech Korea are actively developing integrated pharmaceutical management platforms for pets.