[Yakup News] “Biotech Investment Momentum Is Still Alive… New Fundraising Strategies Are Essential” — Focusing on the Potential for Success

“Biohealth venture companies need to explore new fundraising strategies that reflect today’s more cautious investment environment. A biotech investment boom like the one seen in 2021 is unlikely to return in the immediate future.”

Yoon Keon-soo, Chairman of the Korea Venture Capital Association, made the remarks on the 21st at the 2023 2nd CARM Open Innovation Investment Conference held at COEX in Gangnam, Seoul, where he discussed changing investment trends in the biotechnology sector.

The conference was organized by the Council for Advanced Regenerative Medicine (CARM) to promote Korea’s advanced regenerative biotechnology industry and help promising companies attract investment.

Yoon noted that investment has declined sharply across industries worldwide. “Global investment has fallen by around 50% year-on-year,” he said. “Without the large-scale investments in companies such as OpenAI and Stripe, the decline would have been even steeper.”

According to the Korea Venture Capital Association, global investment totaled approximately USD 162 billion in the first quarter of 2022, but fell to around USD 76 billion in the first quarter of 2023, representing a decline of approximately 53%. Excluding major investments in OpenAI and Stripe, the decrease reached 63.3%.

Seed and angel investment also fell by 44% year-on-year, while investments in Series A and B rounds and Series C and later stages each declined by approximately 54%.

Against this backdrop, Yoon said biotech ventures—often regarded as higher-risk investment targets—need to rethink their fundraising strategies as capital increasingly flows toward larger and more established companies amid the global economic slowdown.

Despite the overall decline, however, Yoon stressed that fundraising opportunities still exist.

“Investment firms still have sufficient capital available,” he said. “Companies need to clearly define the answer to the question, ‘Why should investors invest in us?’”

Yoon proposed three key strategies for attracting investment: reassessing development pipelines, reviewing budgets, and making greater use of government-funded R&D programs and public support.

Whereas biotech companies once maintained multiple pipelines to diversify development risk, Yoon said companies now need to concentrate resources on the programs with the highest probability of success. He also emphasized that targeting global markets, rather than focusing solely on Korea, is essential to enhancing investment value.

In addition, he encouraged companies to actively adopt emerging technologies such as AI to overcome the limitations of existing approaches and improve R&D efficiency.

“Some biotech companies have delivered results that fell short of market expectations, but many others continue to achieve outstanding outcomes, so confidence in the biotech industry remains,” Yoon said. “This is the time for the sector to make a new leap forward through genuine entrepreneurship and a ‘Think Big’ mindset.”

At the event, Hwang Man-soon, CEO of Korea Investment Partners, also called for stronger government support to stimulate investment in the biotechnology sector.

“The government has announced plans to foster biotechnology as a strategic industry that will help shape Korea’s future, but investment and market sentiment toward biotech have not recovered over the past year,” Hwang said.

He added that future strategic industries such as biotechnology require more innovative policy support, including corporate tax reform, restrictions on short selling, and improvements to drug pricing and reimbursement systems.

The conference was hosted by CARM and the Korea Regenerative Medicine Fund (KFRM) and supported by Korea Investment Partners, Daily Partners, and the Korea Venture Capital Association.

Participating companies included NeurolMed, Maru Therapeutics, MarkHelz, B-Element, StemExOne, Acrocell Bioscience, Xcell Therapeutics, Youth Bio Global, InstemCare, ILIAS Biologics, GeneMedicine, CLIPS BnC, PAIAN Biotechnology, Pentamedix, Primoris Therapeutics, and HaplScience.

Yakup News / Reporter Kwon Hyuk-jin