SparkLabs Ventures is a venture investment arm of SparkLabs Group, a network of accelerators and funds. It has recently launched a SparkLabs Ventures Ignition Fund, $50 million early-stage fund (Series A & B) primarily focused on South Korea and SE Asia. The fund will not be limited to SparkLabs portfolio companies and focus its investments on companies that have potential to expand abroad to different markets and have the ability to take advantage of the global reach of the SparkLabs’ network.

The fund is led by Brian Kang, who was a founding member of Samsung’s first venture capital arm and later led Korea Venture Fund, which was one of Korea’s first quasi-government VC fund. He has over 20 years of experience as an investment professional and several years as an entrepreneur and operator. Brian is joined by Chris Koh, Co-founder of Coupang which is the leading ecommerce player in South Korea and served as a vice president of the company for five years focusing on operations and growth.

The team is joined by Venture Partners Rob Das, Co-founder and former Chief Architect of Splunk (NASDAQ:SPLK), and John Suh, CEO of Legalzoom. In addition, the operation will also be supported by a heavy hitting advisory board that includes former Congressman Mike Honda, who served in the U.S. Congress from 2001 to 2017 (represented Silicon Valley in the 17th congressional district from 2013 to 2017); David Lee, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Refactor Capital; and Nadiem Makarim, Co-founder and CEO of Go-Jek.