Smilegate Investment, founded in 1999 originally as MVP Capital, is a venture capital and private equity firm that grows remarkably alongside invested companies.  Since initial venture capital funding in 2000, the firm has since organized and managed more than 30 venture capital and private equity funds and has invested in more than 200 companies with promising growth potential.

Smilegate Investment

Altos Ventures was founded in 1996 to invest in early-stage technology companies. After starting with $30 million in committed capital, they currently manage more than $8 billion in regulatory assets under management, supporting the full lifecycle of companies from inception to global growth and profitability.  They have been the first and lead institutional investor in 100+ companies around the world. They invest in both consumer and enterprise tech companies, with a particular interest in enterprise SaaS, FinTech, e-commerce, and consumer brands and services. They look to invest in high-growth, capital-efficient, founder-led companies. Initial investments can start as small as $500,000 while our follow-on investments can exceed $100 million in a single round, purchasing both primary and secondary shares.

Altos Ventures

The Korea Development Bank (KDB) provides long-term financing for projects designed to assist Koreaâ€:tm:s economic growth and development. It offers equipment capital loans and working capital loans to Korean private enterprises that undertake major industrial projects. The bank also extends guarantees to its clients to facilitate their other borrowings and to finance major industrial projects. KDB guarantees Won-denominated corporate debentures, local currency loans, and other Won liabilities and foreign currency loans from domestic and overseas Korean financial institutions and from foreign institutions. The bankâ€:tm:s other activities include engagement in a range of industrial development activities, including conducting economic and industrial research; performing engineering surveys; providing business analyses and managerial assistance; and offering trust services. As of June 30, 2007, KDB had 40 local branches, 6 overseas branches, and 2 overseas offices. The bank was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.

Korea Development Bank

Founded in 2015, The Yozma Group Korea is a venture capital firm based in Seoul, South Korea. The firm seeks investments in early-stage companies operating in the biotechnology, information and communications technology convergence, media, edutech and other innovative technology sectors.

Yozma Group Korea

Yuhan Co, Ltd. is a South Korean pharmaceutical and chemical company.

Yuhan Corporation

TIMEWISE INVESTMENT, formerly known as CJ Venture Investment, is a principal investment firm specializing in investments in video broadcasting, animation, movies, culture contents, games, communications equipment, arts, sports, leisure, manufacturing and service, mobile devices and solutions, information technology, SI, web agency, cell therapy and biotechnology sectors. The firm primarily invests in South Korea with a focus in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Jeju. CJ Venture Investment was established in 2000 and is based in Seoul, South Korea.

Timewise Investment

Saehan Venture Capital is a venture capital investment firm of Saehan.

Saehan Venture Capital

KB Securities is a Financial Services company.

KB Securities

Syntekabio

Syntekabio is a Korean biotech firm, developing personal genome map which is expected to enable personalized medical service. The company also provides a technology for collecting and integrating decrypted whole genome data.

<div>South Korea-based Synthekabio offers the following AI drug development platforms, 1) DeepMatcher, to automatically generate novel drug candidates by blending advanced drug development techniques with genomic Big Data technologies; 2) NEO-RS, to predict neoantigens using genomic data from tumor and blood samples of cancer patients; and 3) GBL-ARS to explore medical applications based on specific markers, the repositioning of drugs, and the potential revival of drugs that previously failed in clinical trials.</div>

Artificial intelligence is identifying and testing new therapies faster than ever.

AI Drug Discovery

Syntekabio to Showcase Advanced AI Drug Discovery Technologies at BIO International Convention 2024

<div>
 
 South Korea-based Synthekabio offers the following AI drug development platforms, 1) DeepMatcher, to automatically generate novel drug candidates by blending advanced drug development techniques with genomic Big Data technologies; 2) NEO-RS, to predict neoantigens using genomic data from tumor and blood samples of cancer patients; and 3) GBL-ARS to explore medical applications based on specific markers, the repositioning of drugs, and the potential revival of drugs that previously failed in clinical trials.
 
 
 The company also utilizes its genome platform, personal genome map platform (PMAP), haplotyping, and Manycore Hpc System for bio-application (MAHA) supercom for genome analysis.&nbsp;
 
 
 
 
 Furthermore, Syntekabio is also developing an antigen prediction technology, which can be applied in conjunction with therapeutic vaccines and cell therapy products, to predict antibody-based therapeutics in the near future.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 The company has collaborated with many pharmaceutical companies including; Kainosmed (2016), to discover drug for Parkinson&rsquo;s disease; LegoChem Biosciences (2020), for AI drug discovery research;&nbsp; 
 <a href="https://www.koreabiomed.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=12596">
 JW Pharmaceutical
 </a>
 (November 2021), to develop drugs for disease causing proteins using AI; 
 <a href="https://www.eqs-news.com/company/syntekabio-inc/news/ab250c0a-9348-1014-8d26-68c98d9ec918">
 MDBioLab
 </a>
 (October, 2022), to discover drugs for renal cell carcinoma and breast cancer; 
 <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/syntekabio-metaclipse-sign-mou-joint-185800681.html#:~:text=Syntekabio%20(KOSDAQ%3A%20226330)%2C,research%20on%20development%20of%20a">
 Metaclipse Therapeutics
 </a>
 (August 2023), for joint research on personalized immunotherapy for cancer; and 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21444">
 POLARISqb
 </a>
 (August 2023), to leverage AI and quantum technologies in developing treatments for various conditions and diseases.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 Syntekabio is listed on the Kosdaq with the ticker symbol &ldquo;226330.&rdquo;
 
</div>

<div>
 
 HiberCell is a biotechnology company that develops novel therapies focused on oncology. It entered the AI drug discovery space when it acquired AI genomics analysis company Genuity Science (and its subsidiaries in Iceland and Ireland) in August 2021.&nbsp;
 
 
 Genuity Science&rsquo;s solutions include end-to-end therapeutic discovery and development services such as building custom disease datasets, discovering and prioritizing targets, identifying biomarkers, and optimizing clinical trials. Genuity Science leverages its AI-powered platform to manage, process, and analyze genomic data. HiberCell intends to use Genuity Science&rsquo;s AI/ML capabilities to advance its oncology pipeline of five programs, of which one has reached the Phase 2 clinical trial stage.
 
 
 As of March 2024, the company&rsquo;s pipeline included three drug candidates, namely: 1) HC-7366, targeting the general control nonderepressible 2 (GCN2) kinase as part of the integrated stress response (ISR) signaling pathway; 2) HC-5404, aimed at inhibiting the PKR-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK) involved in the unfolded protein response (UPR) signaling pathway; and 3) odetiglucan, a therapy targeting tumor-immune interactions within the tumor microenvironment​.&nbsp;
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 In December 2023, HiberCell and Merck &amp; Co partnered to conduct a Phase Ib trial to evaluate the combination therapy of belzutifan and HC-7366 for treating clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Further, in January 2021, the company partnered with Biodesix to develop an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay as a companion diagnostic test.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In 
 <a href="https://hibercell.com/news/hibercell-closes-67-4-million-series-b-financing-and-secures-30-million-debt-facility-from-hercules-capital/">
 May 2021
 </a>
 , HiberCell completed a Series B financing round, raising USD 67.4 million, and secured an additional USD 30 million in debt financing from Hercules Capital. The funds were expected to be used for clinical advancement of its novel therapeutic candidates. 
 
</div>

HiberCell

<div>
 
 Arbor Biotechnologies specializes in gene editing to develop novel therapeutics for a variety of indications, starting with liver-related diseases. It operates an AI-powered biodiscovery platform to discover novel CRISPR enzymes, which are sequences of repeating genetic code. To do this, its platform deploys computational search techniques, genome sequencing, gene synthesis, and high-throughput screening. This can eventually be turned into drugs or even applied to agriculture and other industrial uses. In 2018, the company announced the discovery of Cas13d, a new type of gene editing enzyme that helps to alter RNA to treat genetic diseases.&nbsp;
 
 
 As of February 2024, the company had five internal drug discovery programs, of which one was in the IND-enabling stage. It also has multiple collaborative programs under development focused on oncology and various other therapeutic areas.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 The company has a long-standing partnership with Vertex Pharmaceuticals since
 <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190103005194/en/Vertex-and-Arbor-Biotechnologies-Establish-Collaboration-to-Discover-Novel-Proteins-to-Advance-Discovery-of-Gene-Editing-Therapies">
 January 2019
 </a>
 , which focused on developing gene-editing treatments for cystic fibrosis and four other diseases. The alliance was further extended in 
 <a href="https://www.biospace.com/article/vertex-and-arbor-strike-a-1-2-billion-deal-for-gene-editing-programs/">
 August 2021
 </a>
 and 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15741">
 January 2023
 </a>
 .&nbsp;
 
 
 Other partnerships included a collaboration with 
 <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/arbor-biotechnologies-announces-collaboration-with-ginkgo-bioworks-to-advance-the-discovery-and-development-of-precision-gene-editors-302011991.html">
 Ginkgo Bioworks
 </a>
 (December 2023) to leverage Ginkgo's R&amp;D services to further optimize Arbor's novel precision editors, a non-exclusive licensing agreement with 
 <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/02/08/2380680/0/en/EdiGene-and-Arbor-Biotechnologies-Announce-Worldwide-Non-exclusive-License-Agreement-to-Advance-Ex-Vivo-Engineered-Cell-Therapy-Programs.html">
 EdiGene
 </a>
 (February 2022) to leverage Arbor&rsquo;s platform for ex vivo oncology therapies, a strategic research and non-exclusive licensing agreement with 
 <a href="https://investors.tcr2.com/news-releases/news-release-details/tcr2-therapeutics-and-arbor-biotechnologies-establish">
 TCR2 Therapeutics
 </a>
 (January 2022) to develop allogeneic TRuC T-cell therapies using Arbor&rsquo;s CRISPR technology, and a license agreement with 
 <a href="https://www.lonza.com/news/2020-12-23-14-00">
 Lonza
 </a>
 (December 2020) to use Arbor&rsquo;s gene-editing technology for Lonza&rsquo;s bioproduction products and services.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In its latest Series B funding round in November 2021, which was led by Ally Bridge Group, TCG Crossover, and Temasek, Arbor Biotechnologies raised USD 215 million. The proceeds of the round were earmarked to fuel the company&rsquo;s clinical development pipeline.
 
</div>

Arbor Biotechnologies

Based in the UK, Arctoris provides an automated drug discovery platform, offering fully validated research and development (R&amp;D) processes under an Experiments-as-a-Service model. The company works with biotechnology companies, AI drug discovery companies, pharma and academic institutions enabling these institutions to run experiments in Arctoris’s platform and provides on-demand access to a broad scale of datasets for AI drug discovery companies to train their algorithms.

Arctoris

<div>
 
 Frontier Medicines leverages AI/ML technologies to develop treatments for cancer-causing proteins that are dismissed by traditional pharma companies as undruggable.&nbsp;
 
 
 The company has a proprietary chemoproteomic platform which entails an approach based on the interaction of small-molecule compounds and proteins to screen a large number of targets and combine them with a protein database that contains more than 150,000 novel binding pockets (hotspots). This enables it to access 90% of the human proteome that were not previously targeted due to lack of hotspots. The platform&rsquo;s AI/ML engine incorporates a library of diverse compounds, a hotspot map that serves as the starting point for understanding the druggability of a potential therapeutic target, and lead design and generation.&nbsp;
 
 
 The company focuses on oncology and immunology target and, as of February 2024, it had five wholly-owned therapeutic programs and three AbbVie-partnered programs in its pipeline. All programs were in their discovery stage, except the company&rsquo;s lead candidate, FMC-376 (activated and inactivated forms), focused on treating different cancer types, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), colorectal carcinoma (CRC), and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), which is in the IND-enabling stage.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 The company entered a USD 100 million partnership with 
 <a href="https://news.abbvie.com/2020-12-02-AbbVie-and-Frontier-Medicines-Establish-Global-Partnership-to-Discover-and-Develop-Novel-Therapies-and-E3-Degraders-Against-Difficult-to-Drug-Targets">
 AbbVie
 </a>
 In December 2020 to develop small-molecule therapeutics against hard-to-drug protein targets including around 600 E3 ligases (the enzymes that drive the ubiquitination and degradation of proteins.&nbsp;
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In July 2021, the company raised USD 88.5 million in a 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/4347">
 Series B
 </a>
 funding round co-led by Woodline Partners LP and RA Capital Management, with equal participation from Deerfield Management Company. The proceeds were earmarked for advancing the company&rsquo;s drug pipeline and expanding operations in Boston, where its new facility was to complement the company&rsquo;s headquarters in California. 
 
</div>

Frontier Medicines

<div>
 
 Verge Genomics is a biotechnology company engaged in developing therapeutics for neurological diseases using human genomics and AI to accelerate drug discovery. The main target areas are Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson&rsquo;s Disease (PD), and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD).&nbsp;
 
 
 It has built a proprietary all-human platform (unlike standard clinical trials that rely on animal data), called CONVERGE, that uses data sets from brain tissue samples of deceased patients with ALS and PD. While most drugs target only one gene at a time, the company claims its technology can identify hundreds of genes that cause disease and develop drugs that target all the genes at the same time. The company uses AI technology to optimize the drug discovery process as a whole.
 
 
 As of March 2024, Verge had one drug candidate in the clinical stage (Phase I) and 10 drug candidates in the discovery stage.&nbsp;
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 The company has partnerships with various tissue banks (such as Harvard University and University of Miami Miller School of Medicine) and several educational institutes and foundations (such as Target ALS, Answer ALS) that enabled its drug discovery platform.&nbsp;
 
 
 In addition, the company&rsquo;s customers include several pharmaceutical companies, such as 1) 
 <a href="https://www.vergegenomics.com/news-blog/verge-genomics-announces-research-collaboration-with-the-sheffield-institute-for-translational-neuroscience">
 Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN)
 </a>
 to accelerate the validation of novel drug targets and screening of drug compounds for Parkinson's disease (February 2021), 2) 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/4146">
 Eli Lilly
 </a>
 to research and develop novel therapies to treat ALS (July 2021), 3) 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21707">
 Alexion
 </a>
 to identify novel drug targets for rare neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases (September 2023), and 4) 
 <a href="https://www.vergegenomics.com/news-blog/verge-genomics-and-the-pritzker-neuropsychiatric-disorders-research-consortium-form-cutting-edge-schizophrenia-research-collaboration">
 Pritzker Neuropsychiatric Disorders Research Consortium
 </a>
 to analyze data from schizophrenic patient&rsquo;s brain tissue with Verge&rsquo;s technology (October 2023).
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In December 2021, Verge raised USD 98 million in an oversubscribed 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7426">
 Series A
 </a>
 funding round led by BlackRock. The funds were used to scale up its pre-clinical and clinical candidate programs in the pipeline and enhance its lead therapeutics through clinical testing. 
 
</div>

Verge Genomics

SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) companies providing their ML platform to other pharma companies for drug discovery services such as target selection, validation and lead optimization.

SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) companies providing their ML platform to other pharma companies to design and run preclinical experiments.

SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) companies providing their ML platform to other pharma companies to identify biomarkers (measurable biological signs used to determine disease progression) and predict drug response. 

SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) companies aggregating and analyzing biomedical data with the help of AI to generate insights across the drug development pipeline.

Biotechnology companies that have integrated AI as a core component of their in-house drug development process. They typically have a few in-house drug development programs, and also collaborate with pharma companies to develop certain drugs.

Companies leverage GenAI to support drug discovery through accelerated drug designing

Companies offer AI/ML-based SaaS products to accelerate the discovery and development of novel therapeutics

Offers AI/ML-based solutions to accelerate drug discovery and development

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
 
 AI-focused pharmaceutical company, Syntekabio, has partnered with large chemical compound producer, Enamine. The main goal is to speed up AI-powered drug development and strengthen their international market presence.
 Enamine will provide its synthetic compound collection to the partnership. Syntekabio will use this contribution in tandem with its AI drug platform, DeepMatcher. This is in efforts to locate optimized lead compounds for drug development. The intention of the project is to boost efficiency in discovering drugs and to make strides in synthetic drug development.

</div>

Syntekabio

About EDGE

Contact Us

Resources

Area of Focus

Technology Research Made Effortless