SBVA, led by Chief Executive Lee Jun-pyo, said on Wednesday it has recruited two former SoftBank Vision Fund investment professionals as venture partners: former partner Chris Lee (이지행) and former director Kaz Yoshimaru (카즈 요시마루).

SBVA plans to further strengthen its global investment capabilities through the hires and to actively support overseas market entry and business expansion for its portfolio companies.

Lee earned a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Chicago. He worked at CVC Capital Partners and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC before serving as a partner at the SoftBank Vision Fund. He led investments in major Asian growth companies including Yanolja, Carro, Advance Intelligence Group, bKash, IYUNO and Funding Societies.

Yoshimaru earned a bachelor's degree in law and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Tokyo, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. After joining SoftBank Group in 2015, he has been responsible for investing in global technology companies on the U.S. investment team as an investment director at the SoftBank Vision Fund. He participated in investments in major tech companies including Databricks, Wiz, Perplexity and Sierra.