Does government capital promote early-stage venture investment? : Evidence from Korea’s venture fund ecosystem
International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal
Published online on May 02, 2026
Abstract
{"p"=>"The purpose of this study is to empirically examine government intervention in the venture capital ecosystem, focusing on the case of South Korea. Drawing on prior literature, government policy intervention in venture capital markets is conceptually classified into direct intervention, indirect intervention, and temporal intervention. Direct intervention refers to cases in which the government acts as an active investor and directly participates in investment decision-making, whereas indirect intervention involves the government supplying capital through privately managed venture capital funds while delegating investment selection and management to private actors. Temporal intervention denotes the strategic adjustment of these policy instruments over different stages of market development. Using annual data from the Korea Venture Capital Association and the Korea Fund of Funds covering the period from 2004 to 2022, this study applies time-series econometric analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of indirect government intervention. The empirical results indicate that the current Korean policy regime is best characterized as an indirect intervention model, in which public funds are invested as limited partners in privately managed venture capital funds. The findings show that early-stage venture investment increases with a higher proportion of early-stage–oriented funds and greater use of preferred stock instruments, while an expansion in total venture fund formation is associated with a decline in early-stage investment. Based on these results, the study proposes six policy recommendations aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of indirect government intervention in promoting early-stage venture investment."}