Sukhwan Yun, head of Hyundai Cradle Berlin, is one of our top 50 Emerging Leaders in corporate venturing for 2026.
Sukhwan Yun went from a research role at Korea-based carmaker Hyundai to its corporate venture capital team in 2018, before moving to Europe in 2022 as head of operations for the Berlin branch of its Hyundai Cradle unit. The following year, he was heading the office.
Yun’s background is in chemical engineering, specialising in energy conversion in fuel cells and batteries. That made him a natural when it came to hydrogen technology.
Hyundai released its first hydrogen-powered car, the Nexo, in 2018, but one of Yun’s biggest achievements was to persuade Hyundai that it was a good idea to invest in startups across the full hydrogen value chain. That led to partnerships with the likes of hydrogen transport system developer Hydrogenious.
“We should understand the technological levels and trends not just for specific geographical regions but all over the globe, so that we can evaluate very clearly whether something is beneficial for global entities”
“There are not many people who have that strong background and knowledge about the technologies,” he says. “So, if the technology is early stage, not many people can get the overview-based perspective. But from my PhD, and then my business and investment knowledge, I could expand the scope.”
That focus has since expanded to other areas, including robotics, advanced manufacturing, AI and software defined vehicles. Recent investments by the Berlin Cradle team include CuspAI, which uses AI to discover molecular combinations for new advanced materials. Yun says the biggest part of his progression is understanding the market as a whole.
“For example, we do not want to just invest in the best startups in Europe,” he says. “Because the Hyundai model covers the global ecosystem market, and we want to partner with top-level global technologies and startups.
“We should understand the technological levels and trends not just for specific geographical regions but all over the globe, so that we can evaluate very clearly whether something is beneficial not only for European entities but for global entities.”
The Emerging Leaders are mid-career corporate venture professionals who are making an outstanding contribution to their teams and the industry.
See the full list of Emerging Leaders here.
