Naver Corp., South Korea’s largest online portal operator, will inject an additional 100 million euros ($118 milion) into a fund for European tech startups to spur investment in the region.

K-Fund 1 is managed by Korelya Capital, an investment firm set up by Fleur Pellerin, France’s first Korean-born minister, to help the internet giant discover global partners in new businesses.

The capital boost would double the size of the fund, which was launched in September 2016 with a starting capital of 100 million euros. The fund has so far invested in Devialet, a French high-end speaker developer; Snips, an AI voice recognition startup; JobTeaser, a job hunting platform; and AB Tasty, a user experience data analysis firm.

“We plan to build on this increased capital to expand investment beyond France to other countries throughout Europe,” said a Naver official. “K-Fund 1 will serve as a bridge to foster technology exchange of startups between Korea and Europe.”

The business of investing in European startups is overseen by Lee Hae-jin, founder and global investment officer of Naver.

Lee is said to have met with high-level officials in France, including Mounir Mahjoubi, the new digital minister, and Benjamin Griveaux, junior economy minister, to discuss market entry into new businesses

By Oh Chan-jong and Kim Hyo-jin

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