[fn People] "We’ll Discover Startups in the ‘Death Valley’ Crisis and Be There from Start to Finish"
Published: July 24, 2025, 6:07 PM | Updated: July 25, 2025, 10:58 AM

Jeong-eun Park, CEO of BLTN Partners

• Gained insight through startup experience and working as an investment manager

• Aims to ensure promising technologies don’t disappear due to lack of funding

• Invests based on potential, regardless of industry sector

• Some companies now approach them first

• Plans to enter the U.S. within three years to promote Korean technology globally

  
  

Photo: Jeong-eun Park, CEO of BLTN Partners. Credit: Chan-mi Kim

“There are many outstanding technologies in the world, but unfortunately, some disappear simply because they don’t secure funding. I want to be a partner who discovers and supports such technologies on the front lines.”

Jeong-eun Park, CEO of BLTN Partners, a deep-tech focused investment firm, stated on the 24th, “Investing should focus on the essence of the technology and its global competitiveness.” Born in 1998, Park is one of the youngest CEOs in the industry. While studying abroad in the U.S., she founded a startup and gained firsthand experience of the local startup ecosystem. Upon returning to Korea, she worked as an investment manager at Bridge Investment, a new technology finance firm, and honed her investment skills.

Driven by the belief that she must seek out overlooked opportunities in the market, Park co-founded BLTN Partners.

“Since I worked at a small investment firm, I had the chance to evaluate a wide range of companies, and that experience became a valuable asset,” she explained. “What I can do now, based on my startup background, is to discover outstanding technologies, which is why I joined the investment sector.”

BLTN Partners adheres to a principle of focused, selective investment. Its current portfolio includes five companies: EVNES, VOLOLAND, MOR.ME, PLFIL, and TechDNA. Among them, EVNES and VOLOLAND showed clear revenue growth last year, validating the firm’s investment strategy.

Park said, “Our goal isn’t simply to take companies public. We select portfolio companies by assessing both the essence of their technology and their potential for global expansion. That’s why we don’t need to invest in a large number of companies.”

Another key differentiator is the firm’s lack of restriction on industry sectors. While most venture capital firms concentrate on specific industries, BLTN Partners prioritizes the potential and scalability of the technology itself.

“There are no limits on the field,” Park emphasized, “but the ability to scale globally is a key criterion for selecting technologies. Korea’s domestic market is small, so both technological capability and the founder’s global mindset and execution ability are critical factors.”

BLTN Partners also collaborates with BLT, an intellectual property law firm, to develop technology protection strategies. As a result, an increasing number of startups with strong technology but difficulty in attracting investment are now proactively approaching the firm.

The company also plans to establish a U.S. branch within three years to create a foothold for globally applying Korean technology. This is not just to attract local investment, but part of a strategic initiative to integrate superior Korean technologies into the U.S. market.

Ultimately, Park’s dream is to establish a "research lab."

Rather than being a mere investment firm, she envisions building a system that protects Korea’s core technologies—such as semiconductors, materials, and new drugs—and ensures their industrial adoption.

“Korea’s strength so far has come from its fundamental technologies,” Park concluded. “I want to help build an environment where good technologies can be sustained and become an investment partner that supports them from beginning to end.”

Reported by Chan-mi Kim (hippo@fnnews.com)