Jay-Z Bets Big on Korea’s Creative Boom in $500M Partnership With Hanwha

Jay-Z, whose firm MarcyPen Capital Partners is launching a $500 million fund with South Korea’s Hanwha Asset Management, continues to expand his global business empire from boardrooms to Seoul.

Jay-Z’s 2025 was quiet on wax but loud in boardrooms. Now, months after his billion-dollar MarcyPen Capital merger, the Brooklyn mogul is taking his hustle global — partnering with South Korea’s Hanwha Asset Management to launch a $500 million investment fund aimed at the booming Asian culture and lifestyle markets.

The deal, signed during Abu Dhabi Finance Week, creates MarcyPen Asia, a new vehicle to back fast-rising brands in entertainment, beauty, fashion and food — essentially, the same creative engines powering the worldwide “K-wave.” MarcyPen, which manages roughly $1 billion, will be the majority investor. Hanwha, one of South Korea’s largest financial groups with about ₩120 trillion (nearly $81 billion) under management, will lead sourcing and fund operations.

“South Korea is a cultural nexus of Asia, influencing global trends in beauty, content, food, entertainment and lifestyle,” said Robbie Robinson, MarcyPen’s managing partner and CEO. Hanwha CEO Kim Jong-ho told the Financial Times that the partnership marks “a rare inflow of private equity” into industries that have traditionally relied on corporate or government backing.

Hanwha Asset Management CEO Jong-Ho (James) Kim, left, and MarcyPen Capital Partners managing partner and CEO Robbie Robinson pose after signing a memorandum of understanding during Abu Dhabi Finance Week 2025 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The agreement underpins a planned $500 million fund to invest in Asian culture and lifestyle companies. 

The move connects two of the world’s most powerful creative economies — hip-hop’s blueprint for ownership and K-culture’s mastery of global influence. The K-pop explosion that gave rise to BTS and Blackpink reshaped how music and style move across borders. Now, Jay-Z’s investment arm is betting that what started as sonic and visual influence can become equity.

MarcyPen, formed in 2024 when Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners merged with Pendulum Opportunities, focuses on businesses that “create, move and lead culture.” The firm’s portfolio has included spirits, wellness and tech startups grounded in the same ethos that powered Roc Nation: cultural authenticity as economic capital.

Jay-Z, MarcyPen and the Business of Culture

From Marcy to MarcyPen
Shawn "JAY-Z" Carter moved from rapper and label head to full-scale investor over the past two decades, building on ventures that ranged from Rocawear and Roc Nation to streaming platform TIDAL and his stake in Armand de Brignac champagne. In 2024, his venture firm Marcy Venture Partners merged with Pendulum Opportunities to form MarcyPen Capital Partners, a U.S.-based private equity firm that now manages around $1 billion in assets and focuses on brands that "create, move and lead culture."

What MarcyPen does
MarcyPen backs early- and growth-stage companies in consumer goods, technology, lifestyle, health and entertainment. The strategy is built on the idea that cultural influence can translate directly into equity and long-term value, especially when the founders come from the communities driving those trends.

Why Korea — and why now
South Korea has become a global culture engine, exporting everything from K-pop and film to skincare, food and streetwear. The planned $500 million MarcyPen Asia fund, launched with Hanwha Asset Management, is designed to help high-potential Korean and Asian brands scale worldwide while giving Black-led capital a direct stake in the next wave of global culture.

The Korean partnership takes that vision further. From K-dramas and Seoul streetwear to skincare routines that went viral through Black and Brown influencers stateside, the cultural traffic between South Korea and the diaspora has been real for years — this deal simply formalizes the money flow behind it.

Hanwha and MarcyPen plan to begin raising capital in the second half of 2026, targeting sovereign funds, private investors and global institutions. If successful, MarcyPen Asia could help Asian-owned creative companies expand worldwide — and put Black-led venture capital squarely at the table shaping that growth.

Still, there’s a cautionary note. Private equity has a history of chasing short-term wins over long-term community investment. But Jay-Z’s track record — from Armand de Brignac champagne to Tidal to Roc Nation Sports — shows he tends to build equity, not just headlines.

If this plays out, it won’t just mark another billionaire move. It could signal a new era of cultural cross-ownership — where the next global hit, brand, or creative platform might be financed by a pipeline that runs from Marcy Projects to Seoul.