Sq. Enix Backs Crit Ventures $27 M Fund: Korea’s Content material Materials Capital Push Enters A World Half – KoreaTechDesk

Korea’s creative-tech funding panorama is coming right into a model new chapter. With Sq. Enix changing into a member of Crit Ventures’ KRW 37.5 billion content material materials fund, world capital is now flowing immediately into Korea’s gaming, Okay-pop, and IP industries. The switch alerts a turning stage for Asia’s enterprise ecosystem—the place cultural experience, cross-border capital, and startup innovation begin to converge.

Japan’s World Sport Massive Joins Korea’s New Content material materials Funding Fund

Crit Ventures has launched a KRW 37.5 billion (about USD 27 million) “IBK-Crit World Content material materials Funding Partnership,” marking a big step for Korea’s cross-border enterprise ecosystem.

The announcement, made on October 23, 2025, confirms that Japan’s Sq. Enix—developer of the Closing Fantasy sequence—has develop to be a restricted affiliate (LP) inside the fund. And that’s Sq. Enix’s first-ever participation in a Korean venture-capital vehicle, underscoring the rising convergence between Japan’s gaming commerce and Korea’s creative-tech startups.

Completely different LPs embody Industrial Monetary establishment of Korea (IBK), Kolmar Holdings, and ALUX, all backing Crit Ventures’ method to hurry up innovation all through gaming, Okay-pop, media, and intellectual-property (IP) sectors.

Fund of Funds Program and Cultural-Tech Development

Crit Ventures was chosen in April 2025 as a delegated regular affiliate (GP) beneath the Fund of Funds program led by Korea Enterprise Funding Firm (KVIC). The mandate covers export-oriented SMEs and startups inside the cultural commerce that exhibit world competence by overseas revenue or worldwide subsidiaries.

Setting up on that framework, the IBK-Crit World Content material materials Funding Partnership objectives to provide every capital and strategic assist to initiatives that mix creative content material materials with scalable experience. The fund is part of Korea’s broader effort to develop venture-backed exports previous {{hardware}} into leisure IP and digital experiences, key progress engines in Asia’s evolving creative financial system.

Sq. Enix and Crit Ventures: Investing in World-Ready Creativity

Managing Director Lee Jong-hyuk, the model new lead fund supervisor, talked about:

“We’re going to select firms with strong potential and provide the funding and assist wished for them to grow to be world top-tier enterprises.”

Crit Ventures emphasised that Sq. Enix’s entry will pave the best way through which for deeper collaboration with residence sport builders and content material materials startups, setting up long-term partnerships between Japanese and Korean creative industries.

The company has already attracted backing from Supercell, Ubisoft, NetEase, and Garena, inserting it among the many many few Korean VCs with sustained engagement from principal world publishers.

Korea’s Content material materials Financial system Enters a World Funding Cycle with the Crit Ventures Fund

With the model new fund, Crit Ventures now manages eight enterprise autos—along with the Crit World Scale-Up Fund, Okay-Net-Crit Content material materials Fund, and KIP-Crit Interactive Content material materials Fund—pushing its full property beneath administration (AUM) previous KRW 300 billion.

The company’s portfolio illustrates how Korea’s cultural-tech ecosystem is diversifying:

In 2025, Crit Ventures expanded its world neighborhood by investments in Clink (Japan), Regime Worldwide, and 1Self World, displaying how Korean enterprise capital is increasingly shaping regional creative value chains.

This enchancment moreover showcases to world merchants and policymakers that Korea’s Fund of Funds framework is evolving from residence startup assist right into a world collaboration platform. It’s now in a position to attracting multinational LPs and advancing the nation’s cultural-export agenda.

Sq. Enix Partnership: Korea’s Cultural-Tech Momentum Builds World Credibility

Sq. Enix’s participation in a Korean VC fund has develop to be a worthwhile illustration for a new part of Asia-Pacific enterprise integration, the place intellectual-property industries and experience finance intersect.

As Korea positions itself as a hub for creative-tech funding, the success of Crit Ventures’ fund will verify the nation’s talent to maintain clear governance whereas scaling world partnerships.

Within the occasion that they efficiently execute this new fund collaboration, it’d strengthen worldwide investor confidence in Korea’s content material materials financial system and mark a turning stage for cross-border cultural-tech innovation inside the space.

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