이 기사는 2020년 06월 30일 08:00 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Megazone Cloud, South Korea’s first AWS (Amazon Web Services) partner, has secured about 40 billion won ($33.3 million) from two investment firms – Stonebridge Capital and NAU IB Capital – in its Series B funding round, sources said on June 26.

Stonebridge Capital will purchase shares from the company’s existing backers along with newly issued shares, which together would be worth 30 billion won. NAU IB Capital will invest 10 billion won in the company. Both transactions are expected to complete on July 1.

Several other financial investors are said to be considering participating in the funding round, through which the company aims to raise about 100 billion won to help fund expansion. This round values the company at 600 billion won, which is 50 percent higher than the 400 billion won valuation it had achieved in a previous fundraising round a year ago.

Stonebridge Capital plans to invest through a 240 billion won secondary fund, which is jointly managed by the firm and KB Securities. The fund, created in December 2018, counts the National Pension Service (NPS) among its limited partners. It was NPS’ first commitment to a secondary private equity fund.

Megazone Cloud’s existing investors include NAU IB Capital, KB Investment, NongHyup Bank and Korea Development Bank. Some of them, including NAU IB Capital, are planning to liquidate their initial positions and reinvest in the company through this round of funding, industry watchers said.

After a 100 billion won capital increase, the company’s investors would hold a total 15 percent stake – if converted into common shares – in Megazone Cloud. The proceeds will be used to expand its business both in South Korea and overseas markets.

Founded in 1998, Megazone Cloud has been growing rapidly amid the growth of the cloud services market globally. It has gained a dominant position in South Korea’s public cloud market after becoming an AWS partner in 2012.

(Reporting by Ar-rum Rho)