IP monetization specialist IPTECH (CEO Han Chi-won) announced on the 14th that it has attracted investment from the innovation IP fund of K-Ground Ventures (KGV, CEO Cho Nam-hoon), the operator of the first cohort of Scale-Up TIPS, after receiving a high valuation for its “IP life-cycle-based monetization system.”

IPTECH is a specialized IP monetization company based on full life-cycle value-up of intellectual property (IP), founded by CEO Han Chi-won, who has served as managing patent attorney at Patent Law Firm IPS and as CEO of IPS Ventures, leveraging his experience and know-how as both an investment and patent expert.

Unlike conventional patent management companies (NPEs) that simply acquire patents and file licensing lawsuits, IPTECH precisely diagnoses the future growth potential of IP and, on that basis, develops three strategic pillars to maximize corporate value: value re-creation of IP held by distressed startups, future preemptive global value-up for growth-stage startups, and market creation and transaction activation based on public-sector technologies.

The reason IPTECH, despite being an early-stage company, was able to secure investment from IP-focused investment firm K-Ground lies in CEO Han’s differentiated hands-on experience. Han is a deep-tech investment specialist who, as managing patent attorney of patent portfolio creation firm Patent Law Firm IPS and former CEO of startup-focused investment firm IPS Ventures, has combined an IP expert’s perspective with investment and entrepreneurship.

As a case in point, Thyroscope Co., Ltd. (THYROSCOPE, CEO Park Jae-min) is a textbook “IP-based value creation” model that was launched by combining original technology from Seoul National University with a founding team from UNIST. From the early stages of the company, Han systematically built a global IP portfolio and aggressively executed investments for the company’s global growth, enabling Thyroscope, as a TECH-based company, to lay the groundwork for global expansion on the strength of its IP assets.

In addition, numerous deep-tech companies that are growing into global TECH firms on the back of strong technological barriers—such as VPIX Medical, MediWhale, and Stand Up Therapeutics—have participated in Han’s IP-based corporate value growth programs.

IPTECH’s business goes beyond simply generating profits for individual companies. It is ultimately expected to help build an ecosystem that enables the emergence of new unicorns and to serve as a starting point for resolving the chronic issue of commercializing national public technologies.

The existing patent trading market has remained inactive due to uncertainty in value assessment and the absence of clear commercialization actors. IPTECH aims to create a virtuous cycle in which dormant public technologies are commercialized and this, in turn, leads to new investment and growth, powered by two engines: “accurate value assessment” and “strategic value-up.”

K-Ground CEO Cho Nam-hoon explained the investment decision, saying, “When deep-tech companies based on original IP fail to enter the market, the R&D outputs themselves—national assets—disappear, which is a major loss in terms of national competitiveness,” adding, “IPTECH is a sustainable technology commercialization model that deploys an optimal team of commercialization experts to these IP assets, diagnoses problems in existing businesses, and creates opportunities to relaunch them with new business models.”

The emergence of IPTECH carries significant implications for the domestic tech startup ecosystem. This is because the key to survival has shifted beyond the simple question of “who is founding a company” to “how to transform existing IP into exclusive assets in the global market.”

IPTECH CEO Han Chi-won stated, “Going forward, we plan to further enhance our sophisticated value assessment system so that the technology trading market can be truly activated around intrinsic value. Through this, we intend to create new value for private-sector IP in crisis and enable promising public technologies to create new markets, thereby fostering next-generation unicorn companies that represent the Republic of Korea.”

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