South Korea’s new venture investment reached ₩8.87 trillion (approximately $6.4 billion) in the first half of this year, up 54.3% from a year earlier and above the previous first-half record of ₩7.64 trillion set during the 2022 venture boom. New fund formation rose 33% to ₩8.44 trillion (approximately $6.1 billion), the second-highest first-half total on record, according to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ 2026 First-Half Venture Investment and Fund Formation Trends. The funding surge is colliding with a frozen KOSDAQ exit market. Only 20 companies excluding SPACs listed between January and July, compared with 41 in the same period last year. Of those companies, only four traded above their IPO prices as of the closing price on the 21st of the month, while seven, including Peace Peace Studio, StradVision and Hanpass, had lost more than half their offering value. Among 11 companies listed in the second half, the average return relative to IPO prices was -25.61%; only Neoview and Ingenia Therapeutics traded above those levels. Lemon Healthcare, HL Genomics and Delicious each lost more than half their IPO value, while Gido Industry fell from 28,400 won to 15,020 won in one week after listing on KOSDAQ. Across companies that entered KOSDAQ over the past year, only two exceeded ₩500 billion (approximately $361.2 million) in market capitalization and 74% traded below their IPO prices. Analysts and industry executives cite weak demand, equity-market corrections, inflated valuations, institutional selling, high listing thresholds and prolonged reviews as threats to the venture-capital exit model. Average approval time for preliminary listing reviews reached 115 days in the first half, about 20 days above the historical average of 97 days. Proposed reforms, including pre-demand forecasting and cornerstone investors, could support a partial recovery if broader equities stabilize, but market participants say sustained post-listing performance will be more important than first-day gains.