Korea’s largest Internet portal Naver’s cofounder and chairman of NHN Entertainment Lee Joon-ho has shifted focus to virtual reality due to the obscure future of the game market.

After Lee parted from Naver in 2013 to create an independent online game company NHN Entertainment, he has diversified the operations into other technological areas.

Following the investments in fintech and Internet of Things, Lee is currently expanding his presence in the virtual reality sector. Seeing the potential for new growth, he has invested billions in two related start-ups through investment subsidiary NHN Investment.

Last November, along with four other firms NHN Investment invested $14 million in eye-tracking technology U.S. start-up Eyefluence.

Formed in 2013, the California-based company holds eye-tracking technology that tracks eye movements and position to convert them in head-mounted displays. This technology is included in virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality equipment.

NHN Investment also invested $24 million along with other investors in another U.S. virtual reality technology company Avegant last August.

Established in September 2012, the California-based company has since received a total of $35 million in investments.

Avegant’s newest product Glyph is a display headset that creates virtual reality.

Its unique technology does not have a screen but instead projects images into the wearer’s eyes. With the micro mirror array technology that projects images onto 2 million microscopic mirrors, the wearer is able to jump into the world of virtual reality.

By simply pulling the headset’s headband over the eyes, the wearer is able to see images and hear sounds at the same time when the device is connected to media sources including smartphones, computers, and tablets.

Meanwhile, NHN Entertainment has also invested in other technological areas other than virtual reality.

The company took over Korea’s representative electronic payment company Korea Cyber Payment in 2014 and invested in the shares of Tmonet, a dominant company in Korea’s transportation card business, last year.

It then launched PAYCO, a payment service, officially jumping into the fintech market.

After it took over online ticketing website Ticketlink and job portal site Incruit in 2014, the firm became the largest shareholder of Neowiz Internet Corp. -- operator of music platform Bugs -- after purchasing a 40 percent stake for 106 billion won ($88 million) last May.

Chairman Lee’s listed shares are currently worth 754.5 billion won, and his total net worth amounts to 1.1 trillion won which ranks him 39 in Forbes Korea’s 50 Richest People. 





By The Korea Herald Superrich Team
(seoyounglee@heraldcorp.com)

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Hong Seung-wan

Cheon Ye-seon

Bae Ji-sook

Yoon Hyun-jong

Min Sang-seek

Lee Seo-young