Policy lender Korea Development Bank and fund-of-funds investment firm Korea Growth Investment Corp. said Tuesday they have selected 18 external partners to inject a total of 2.5 trillion won ($2.05 billion) in growth capital to support the scaling up of venture companies here.

Of the total of the latest batch, a combined 830 billion won will be backed by state-run financial institutions including KDB, while 50 billion won will come from the state budget.

This marks the latest addition to KDB’s “Growth Support Fund” program, under which innovative companies at the later stage of growth can get financial support.

The latest batch of fundraising will bring the total amount to 8.46 trillion won over the past three years through the program.

External partners to the fund’s third batch include private equity firms or venture capitals such as SkyLake Investment, JKL Partners, IMM Investment, LB Investment, Atinum Investment, Intervest, Wonik Investment Partners, Neoplux and DSC Investment, among others. The fund managers are mandated to close the funds by 2020 to back the venture companies.

“KDB regards financial support to innovative and new businesses as a crucial mission, so KDB will play a lead role in keeping the investment ecosystem unscathed despite COVID-19,” KDB said in a statement.

By Son Ji-hyoung (consnow@heraldcorp.com)