Building and Scaling a $900M CVC
Dong-Su Kim built LG Technology Ventures from zero to nearly $900 million under management. Strategic versus financial value, he argues, is a false choice.
With Dong-Su Kim
From The Corporate Venturing Podcast, brought to you by Open Road Ventures
4 things this conversation gets into
- 01The false choice between strategic and financial value
- 02Structuring a team for returns and startup collaboration
- 03Balancing Silicon Valley speed with Korean corporate culture
- 04Value creation beyond the capital
Dong-Su Kim is the Founding CEO of LG Technology Ventures and one of the top 2025 GCV Power List leaders. Since 2018 he has grown LG's CVC arm from zero to nearly 900 million dollars under management, with over 80 investments and more than 10 exits and IPOs across AI, batteries, energy and advanced materials.
Davide Ritorto is a management engineer from Italy with an international MBA, currently working at Lamborghini. He is what some call an intrapreneur, passionate about open innovation and corporate venturing, and driven by curiosity about how things work and how to make them work even better. Through Open Road Ventures he sets out to inspire and inform other innovators, intrapreneurs and dreamers.
He founded Open Road Ventures as a weekly publication on open innovation and corporate venturing, and The Corporate Venturing Podcast grew out of it. He also mentors startups at Motor Valley Accelerator and sits on the Open Innovation Advisory Board at UC Berkeley Haas.
The Corporate Venturing Podcast is made by Open Road Ventures. The Bundl Venture Club is a partner of the show.
Read the full show notes
🎙️ Welcome to a new episode of The Corporate Venturing Podcast!
What does it take to build a Corporate Venture Capital unit from scratch and scale it into one of the world’s most respected deep tech investors?
In this episode, I sit down with Dong-Su Kim, Ph.D., Founding CEO of LG Technology Ventures, and one of the top 2025 GCV Power List leaders. Since 2018, Dong-Su has led LG’s CVC arm from zero to nearly $900 million AUM, with over 80 investments and more than 10 exits and IPOs across AI, batteries, energy, advanced materials, and more.
We dive into the bold choices and core principles that guided him in building LG Ventures as an autonomous, future-focused, and globally connected investor: operating more like a financial VC, but wired for strategic value.
Dong-Su shares his perspective on:
🧭 The false dichotomy of strategic vs. financial value in CVC
⚙️ How to structure teams for both investment performance and startup collaboration
🌍 Balancing Silicon Valley speed with Korean corporate culture
🧪 Why deep tech is the foundation of LG’s long-term edge—and how CVC fits in
🧱 How LG Ventures helps startups validate tech, enter markets, and scale
🚀 The real meaning of “value creation” beyond just capital
📉 Lessons from past investments and avoiding hype cycles
🔮 Why he’s considering a new fund with external LPs to double down on breakout ventures
Plus, we close with a candid look at what personally drives Dong-Su: the joy of helping exceptional founders succeed.
Whether you’re running a venture arm or navigating corporate-startup collaboration, this episode is a real-world blueprint for building something that lasts.
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