Hanwha Asset Management teams up with US venture firm to launch K-content investment platform

Hanwha Asset Management is establishing a joint venture dedicated to cultural industry investment with MarcyPen Capital Partners LLC, a US-based independent venture capital firm.

Hanwha Asset Management announced Wednesday that it is launching MarcyPen Asia, a joint venture with MarcyPen focused exclusively on investments in lifestyle, content and entertainment.

The two companies plan to use South Korea as a base to invest in the Asian cultural ecosystem — including K-content — and build a strategic investment platform connecting Eastern and Western content markets.

MarcyPen will serve as the majority shareholder with a 60% stake, overseeing management and operations. Hanwha Asset Management will hold a 40% stake as the second-largest shareholder, supporting regulatory matters and investment strategy in the Korean and broader Asian markets.

MarcyPen is an independent venture capital firm that has built its track record investing in lifestyle, content and entertainment companies across North America. The firm has been pursuing entry into Asian markets, drawn by the growing global influence of K-content and the expansion of Asia's broader cultural ecosystem.

MarcyPen concluded that partnering with a local firm would be more effective than going it alone, and chose Hanwha Asset Management as its partner. The US firm valued Hanwha Asset Management's more than four decades of investment, management and operational expertise in domestic and international markets, its experience investing in cultural industries and intellectual property — including through lifestyle funds — and its internal controls and risk management framework.

Hanwha Asset Management plans to use the joint venture as an opportunity to build a specialized platform for cultural industry investments in lifestyle and content — areas that require a different approach from traditional alternative assets — while strengthening its global investment network.

"This joint venture is about growing together with MarcyPen as a responsible business partner," said Kim Jong-ho, CEO of Hanwha Asset Management. "We will combine the strengths of both companies to build a strategic network in the cultural content market and contribute to fostering a healthy investment ecosystem."

Robbie Robinson, managing partner and CEO of MarcyPen, said "insight into global culture is what creates long-term market leadership and value," and that Korea, as a cultural hub driving global trends in beauty, food and lifestyle, is the ideal starting point. He added that through MarcyPen Asia, the firm aims to become the first partner that leading consumer brands seek out as they look to make their mark on global markets.

The two companies announced at Abu Dhabi Finance Week 2025 in December a plan to establish a co-investment fund of up to $500 million. The newly launched joint venture will serve as the operational base for executing that investment strategy, targeting K-content and Asian lifestyle companies.