Megalos Asteria & Co.

Compassion Charity Auction at Banyan Tree

2008-12-10T20:00:00.000-08:00

On December 10, 2008, Daniel Shin, a managing director, participated Compassion Charity Auction at Banyan Tree Seoul hosted by Daniel Henney, a Korean-American movie star, and Sung Joo Kim, a chairwoman of the Sung Joo Int'l and the MCM Worldwide, Munich-based, a luxury fashion goods company. There were over 200 attendees including many celebrities and high-net worth individuals.

Jiyoon Lee, a professional curator from England and Kenny Kim auctioned a number of paintings of the U.K. based emerging young artists. All the proceedings were donated to the Compassion, a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enables them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults. Compassion was founded by the Rev. Everett Swanson in 1952. Compassion first started providing Korean War orphans with food, shelter, education and health care, as well as Christian training and, today, Compassion helps more than 1 million children in 25 countries.

SNU Techno Holdings Gala Dinner

2008-11-17T20:56:00.000-08:00

On November 17, Daniel Shin, a managing director at Megalos Asteria & Co. was invited to attend the International Conference for SNU Techno Holdings, Inc. and its opening gala dinner.

SNU Techno Holdings is a newly created business holding entity of Seoul National University ("SNU"), nation's No. 1 academic institution in Korea. The company holds major technology patents developed at the university and promotes them to be commercialized by either setting up a joint venture with strategic partners or incorporating a new company with investments from venture capital firms or sponsoring corporations. Roh Jung-Ik, a former CEO of Hyundai Group, joined the SNU Techno Holdings as a chief. SNU Techno Holdings currently carry over 30 patent-backed technologies developed by SNU's leading researchers and scientists. SNU Techno Holding plans to seed a number of early stage companies with its given financial resource and diverse network of SNU grads. Over 10 tech companies from SNU are currently traded on the Korean Stock Exchange and SNU Techno Holdings further extends university-wide venture incubation initiatives.

Distinguished experts on university-spun-off tech holding companies from TsingHua Holdings, Auckland Uniservices Ltd., A*Star (Exploit Technologies Pte. Ltd), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Tokyo University, and Kyoto University spoke at the conference. Leading venture investors, corporate sponsors, a number of SNU-affiliated VIP gathered at the gala dinner to celebrate the SNU Techno Holdings' successful launching. Further information may be found here.

Global VC Coaching Session at KOTRA #2

2008-11-05T23:04:00.000-08:00

On November 5, Daniel Shin, a managing director of Megalos Asteria & Co., gave a special lecture at KOTRA (Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency) on venture capital fund-raising in the U.S. as part of 4 week-long "Global VC Coaching Sessions." There were executives from over 30 companies in the IT industry attending this lecture. There were also follow-on sessions on November 7 with executives who needed one-on-one advice on their business plans and fund-raising strategies.

Judged at Nat'l Business Plan Competition

2008-11-01T23:39:00.000-07:00

On November 1, Daniel Shin, a managing director at Megalos Asteria & Co. participated at the final round of 9th National Student Venture Competition organized by Seoul National University. There were over 120 business plans submitted from leading undergrad and grad schools in Korea. After rigorous review process over a month, 20 teams were selected for the final round. 5 judges including venture capitalists, patent lawyer, and professor, gave feedback to each team and helped them develop sound business plans and compelling pitches. After final round, judges concluded 5 winning teams which were officially announced at the KINTEX, Ilsan, on November 7th, 2008. The top award was given to the team which brought mobile travel-aid device business plan and the team received $10,000 cash award as seed capital.

Global VC Coaching Session at KOTRA #1

2008-10-22T00:26:00.000-07:00

On October 22, 2008, Daniel Shin, gave a special lecture at KOTRA (Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency) on the global venture capital investment overview and recent activities in the U.S. as part of Global VC Coaching Sessions. J.J. Hwang from Blue Run Ventures also gave his perspective on current trends in Korea-specific situation for venture capital investment. There were executives from over 30 Korean IT companies in early to expansion stages. This lecture was given at the IKP (Invest Korea Plaza), which is a newly built facility for foreign direct investors.

Participated KAIST BP Forum

2008-04-17T21:37:00.000-07:00

Daniel Shin, a managing director at Megalos Asteria & Co., attended the KAIST 13th BP Forum on March 28, 2008, which was held at the Seoul National Science Museum in Seoul. KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) is a top notch university with strong emphasis on science, engineering, and technology research. KAIST, equivalent with MIT in the United States, was founded in 1971 and main campus is located down in Daejeon. BP Forum was organized by the KAIST Office of Industry-University Co-op, Center for Science-based Entrepreneurship, and DIT Holdings, a venture capital and university-based-technology-to-business incubator. This event was 2nd sequel of the "Top 10 KAIST Technologies of the Year 2008."

KAIST announced top 10 proprietary technologies, which have higher probability of industry application. All the technologies announced at the conference were solely developed by KAIST faculty members and research labs. Original inventors were presenting their technologies with business implication to seek initial funding and industry collaboration.

Followings are the list of top 10 KAIST technologies presented at the seminar.

Robot Technology: Composite structures to robots and shaft for LCD manufacturing
Medical Device Technology: Development of operation method for medical robots: T-shaped gauge and acetabular cup navigation system and acetabular cup aligning method
Environment Technology: Succinic acid generation using biomass
Nano Technology: Carbon nanotube and nanocomposites
Energy Technology: CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium Selenide) layer solar cell
Laser Technology: Development of high power/high energy/high repetition rate beam combination laser using stimulated Brillouin scattering phase conjugate mirrors
Voice Pattern Technology: Voice interface & voice pattern conversion technology
Material Science: Flexible LCD backlight
Energy Technology: PEMFC (Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell)
Energy Technology: LiPB (Lithium ion polymer technology)

(You may find official conference flier in Korean language here.)

Megalos Asteria Hosted Luncheon Event

2008-04-17T20:55:00.000-07:00

Megalos Asteria hosted a brown-bag lunch event at the Rehoboth Center at the City Hall. Megalos Asteria sponsored lunch packs and served over 30 participants during this event. This event was organized as a part of regular R-Time (rest time at the Rehoboth) event to create more active internal communication loop among member firms at the center. Rehoboth City Hall currently leases its space to many small start-up companies and young entrepreneurs who are preparing new business on their own. Rehoboth has total 19 centers nationwide catering over 150 young companies as their member firms. Daniel introduced Megalos Asteria and what he was currently looking for: early stage venture investment opportunity in digital interactive media and alternative energy. There were a number of follow-on meetings arranged throughout this event. Park Kwang Hee, chairman of the Rehoboth Incubator and the Seoul SOHO Business Association, spoke at the event as well. (You may click here to read the interview article which was released in March 2008 on the SOHO Story Monthly Webzine.)

Daniel Shin Spoke at the Networking Event

2008-04-17T20:32:00.001-07:00

Daniel Shin, managing director of Megalos Asteria & Co. recently spoke at the business networking event which was held on March 27, 2008 in Seoul, Korea. Event was organized by the Prime Kangnam Center, a business incubator. Over 20 entrepreneurs of businesses hiring 1 to 50+ employees and professional service providers in various fields attended this event. Daniel Shin gave his perspective on venture formation in Korea and myths of successful entrepreneurs. (You may click here for the original source in Korean.)

[Daniel Shin at the Event]

New Website Opens

2008-04-15T02:40:00.000-07:00

Seoul, Korea – April 15, 2008

Megalos Asteria & Co. expands its web presence to reach out entrepreneurs.

Megalos Asteria & Co., a newly created venture capital and private equity company, announced today that the company has officially opened its corporate website. The new site now covers more specific information on what the company does and it reflects the company’s growing emphasis on cross-border early stage venture investments.

To take a look at a new website, you may visit http://www.megalosasteria.com/