South Korea’s Korea Development Bank (KDB) plans to create 100 billion won ($94 million) worth of intellectual property (IP) funds that aim at investing in small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) with promising intellectual properties such as copyrights and patents.  The KDB is expected to put the IP fund pool under the management of IP-related investment company Idea Bridge Asset Management. 
Aside from the KDB, other banks including Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) and Woori Bank are also said to be considering investing in SMBs with prospective IP rights by creating IP funds. Woori Bank, for example, plans to develop a financial product through which it will provide 100 billion won assistance for SMBs that excel in advanced technologies. This is clearly good news for Korean ventures concentrating on high-tech industries.
Those SMBs, even when failing to meet eligibility criteria to receive funds, will be able to receive financial assistance from the funds if they demonstrate clear potential with outstanding IP assets. 
The creation of these new IP funds is certain to make IP-related assets a new investment instrument. 
IP funds, which deem IP as one of the most valuable assets for investment, are designed to provide financial assistance for companies with promising IP assets. 
The $25M worth of funds invested in Pantech-owned patents, created by the KDB last October, was the only private IP fund so far.