{"id":489264,"date":"2024-01-18T12:06:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T17:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/a-south-korean-investment-firm-starts-first-us-biotech-fund\/"},"modified":"2024-01-18T12:30:48","modified_gmt":"2024-01-18T17:30:48","slug":"a-south-korean-investment-firm-starts-first-us-biotech-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/a-south-korean-investment-firm-starts-first-us-biotech-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"A South Korean investment firm starts first US biotech fund","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
Mirae Asset Capital Life Science, a new venture capital fund, launched on Thursday, joining several other new firms that have recently emerged with plans to invest in drug startups.<\/p>\n
The fund is a spinout of Mirae Asset Financial Group, a global investment firm headquartered in South Korea that has previously backed young biotechnology companies such as Septerna<\/a> and Crossbow Therapeutics<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mirae is starting with $50 million and intends to primarily invest in biotech startups developing new medicines. However, it will also be \u201copportunistic\u201d in backing diagnostics developers and the makers of high-powered computing tools for drug discovery. The firm plans to invest in companies looking for seed to Series C rounds, and will support startups through to an \u201cexit,\u201d such as an initial public offering or acquisition.<\/p>\n Mirae said its focus will be on cancer, immunology, metabolic diseases, eye disorders and inherited conditions.<\/p>\n The firm is led by Naveen Krishnan, a biotech veteran who previously oversaw Bayer\u2019s venture arm. With offices in Boston and San Francisco, the firm is managing Mirae\u2019s first U.S. fund focused on life science companies.<\/p>\n Mirae is beginning with at least one investment already made. The company is leading a $75 million Series C round for a developer of targeted cancer drugs, with an announcement expected \u201cin the coming weeks.\u201d In a statement, Krishnan said the fund will \u201cremain committed to finding the best companies that can bring therapies to patients who need them most.\u201d<\/p>\n Naveen M. Krishnan is the managing director of Mirae Asset Capital Life Science.<\/p>\n Permission granted by Mirae Asset Financial Group<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Mirae joins a handful of new biotech venture funds, among them Cure Ventures, Bioluminescence Ventures<\/a> and Dimension<\/a>. Mirae\u2019s fund, while on the smaller size, adds to the sizable totals recently raised by healthcare-focused venture funds in the U.S. A report released this week by Silicon Valley Bank<\/a> noted that such firms raised $19 billion in 2023, the third-best year on record.<\/p>\n Much of that cash hasn\u2019t been put to use yet. SVB\u2019s data shows the number of venture deals closed by drugmakers fell by a quarter between 2022 and 2023. Those that have been the most successful have \u201cstrong clinical assets,\u201d SVB wrote.<\/p>\n Mirae Asset Capital Life Science, a new venture capital fund, launched on Thursday, joining several other new firms that have recently emerged with plans to invest in drug startups. The fund is a spinout of Mirae Asset Financial Group, a global investment firm headquartered in South Korea that has previously backed young biotechnology companies such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":2,"featured_media":489267,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"acf":[],"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"link","format":"url"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489264"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":489266,"href":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489264\/revisions\/489266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/div>\n<\/div>
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