Singapore venture capital fund Farquhar VC (FVC) has announced its investment in South Korean EdTech artificial intelligence (AI) startup Catius Inc. Smilegate Investments and STIC Ventures were among the lead investors in the pre-A round.
FVC said in a statement that Catius is the second Korean startup to join the FVC stable of high-growth companies that include Sicpama (food and beverage retail-tech), of which FVC invested alongside Infobank IAccel and the Daegu Center for Creative Economy & Innovation in February 2024.
Catius Inc. is a revolutionary interactive conversational AI companion for children. The platform engages the kid in constant back-and-forth conversation, exploring many enjoyable and exciting themes to instil a lifetime interest in learning and the world around us. It stimulates conversations and maintains children’s interest by asking questions and giving interesting quizzes. Cati uses discussion to assist the child in developing their conversational, social, and real-world abilities.
FVC has recently inked two partnership deals, namely with the Goyang Investment Authority to support the mutual advancement of startups between South Korea (Goyang Special City) and Singapore and South East Asia and Twin Ventures to enable and support cross-border startup collaborations between the two countries and geographical regions. In addition, the firm is currently in discussions with various Korean government and industry stakeholders on potential fund collaborations, while its innovation-advisory subsidiary will be embarking on a joint accelerator programme to enable startups in southern South Korea to explore global expansion opportunities.
Commenting on the latest development, Jason Su, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of FVC, said:
FVC is grateful to be entrusted with enabling startups to scale beyond domestic borders through investment and acceleration. This is possible by having strong partners in academia, the commercialization industry, and government, such as Hanyang University Holdings, Irislab, Infobank, Twin Ventures, and Goyang Special City.
Jason added:
More importantly, several of our portfolio companies (such as Tictag, MyFirst, and Spark Systems) are having ongoing commercial activities in South Korea, proving our ability to catalyze and sustain ties between the two countries and geographical regions.
Established in 2020, FVC has invested in more than 40 global startups to enable their growth through targeted market access with its network of mid-sized and large corporates. The company’s latest investments include EMERGE Group and Aevice Health. In 2024 and 2025, FVC will invest in high-growth Korean startups via its Green Future Fund.
