HYBE CEO, Musicow Chair Appointed Vice Chairs of Korea Venture Business Association

HYBE’s CEO and Musicow’s Chair named vice chairs of the Korea Venture Business Association

September 21, 2026 By Mandy Dalugdug

HYBE CEO Jason Jaesang Lee has been appointed a vice chair of the Korea Venture Business Association ( KOVA ).

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The appointment makes the K-pop company behind BTS one of the trade body’s vice chair member companies.

Lee was one of six executives named to KOVA ‘s executive lineup at its third regular board meeting of 2026, held on Friday ( September 18 ), according to the association.

Also appointed vice chair was Jung Hyun-kyung , Chair of Musicow , the Korean platform that buys rights to song royalty income and sells fractional shares in it to investors.

The two other vice chair seats went to Park Ki-ho , CEO of LB Investment , and Lee Jun-hyeok , CEO of Geumyong Machinery .

Lee Jin , CEO of legal technology company LBox , and Seo Jae-won , CEO of TUgether , were named directors.

KOVA said it expects HYBE ‘s arrival as a vice chair company to widen the connections between the content industry and Korea’s venture ecosystem, describing the company as a leader in the global K-pop and content industries.

The association said it plans to draw on the new appointees’ sector experience across four areas: startup creation in new industries, growth support for venture companies, wider investment and business cooperation, and policy and institutional reform.

“For the venture ecosystem to continue developing, new startups and innovation must continue to emerge across a wide range of industries,” said Song Byung-joon , Chairman of KOVA , in comments carried by Korean outlets including Financial News and translated by MBW .

“With innovative companies representing various fields, including HYBE , newly joining KOVA as executive member companies, we will expand connections and cooperation across industries and build an ecosystem in which new venture companies can be launched and grow across various fields.”

> “With innovative companies representing various fields, including HYBE , newly joining KOVA as executive member companies, we will expand connections and cooperation across industries and build an ecosystem in which new venture companies can be launched and grow across various fields.” Song Byung-joon , Korea Venture Business Association

Song is also Chairman of games company Com2uS Holdings , which he founded and which traded as Gamevil until 2021.

HYBE posted record quarterly revenue of KRW 1.45 trillion (approximately USD $967 million ) in Q2 2026 , up 105.5% YoY , as previously reported by MBW .

Across 2025 as a whole, the company generated record annual revenue of KRW 2.65 trillion ( USD $1.86 billion ), although its operating profit fell 73% as it invested in new artist launches and restructured its US business.

Jason Jaesang Lee has led HYBE since July 2024 , when he succeeded Jiwon Park as CEO.

He joined the company – then Big Hit Entertainment – in 2018 , and HYBE credits him with steering its 2020 stock market listing and a string of acquisitions.

Lee was positioned as the central figure in HYBE 2.0 , a restructuring that reorganized the company’s businesses into music, platform, and tech-driven future growth initiatives.

“ HYBE 2.0 focuses on fostering our future growth businesses centered on music, platform, and technology,” Lee said when the strategy was unveiled in August 2024 .

Under that strategy, HYBE said it would invest in gaming, audio and voice technology, generative AI, its Original Story Business , and integrated online and offline experiences.

HYBE said in a statement when Lee was appointed CEO that it looked forward to “advancing as a global entertainment lifestyle platform company.”

HYBE ‘s 2020 listing is now the subject of a criminal referral. On September 3 , the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency ‘s financial crimes unit referred five people to the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office , without detention, on suspicion of fraudulent unfair trading under South Korea’s Capital Markets Act .

They included HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk , former CFO Kwon Yong-sang , and Jason Jaesang Lee , who was a team leader in the company’s innovation growth center at the time of the alleged conduct and did not become CEO until 2024 .

Police allege the five told existing shareholders in 2019 that the company had no plans to go public while listing preparations were already underway. Investigators put the improper gains across the five at KRW 263.1 billion (approximately USD $189 million ). A referral is not an indictment, and prosecutors have yet to decide whether to bring charges. Bang and HYBE have denied the allegations throughout.

The police investigation had been running since December 2024 , and prosecutors twice rejected police applications to arrest Bang before the case was handed over, as previously reported by MBW .

Musicow was founded in Korea in 2016 and traded as Musicoin until a rebrand in 2020 .

It had its service designated an innovative financial service by the country’s Financial Services Commission in September 2022 , and partnered with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation in January 2025 to launch a music royalty trading platform in the United States .

KOVA runs programs for Korean venture companies covering startup training, investment matching, joint recruitment, and support for entry into overseas markets.

The Q2 2026 figures are converted at the average Q2 2026 rate of approximately 1,500 KRW/USD, the 2025 figure at that year’s average rate, and the KRW 263.1 billion figure at approximately 1,390 KRW/USD. Music Business Worldwide

News South Korea BTS HYBE Jason Jaesang Lee Jung Hyun-kyung Korea Venture Business Association Musicow

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_Originally reported by [Music Business Worldwide](https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/hybes-ceo-and-musicows-chair-named-vice-chairs-of-the-korea-venture-business-association/)._