CrystalGenomics receives $2.6m from VC-backed fund
South Korea-based CrystalGenomics has secured KRW3 billion ($2.6 Million) through a private placement to the Korea Seoul Life Science Fund (KSLSF).
The biopharmaceutical company said in a press release on Friday that this is the third time within the past month that it has raised capital, following two KRW10 billion bond issues to KDB Capital and Tube Investment, respectively. The funds will be used to support the company's R&D efforts, including three clinical stage therapeutic programs.
In 2010, the KSLSF was created by Hanwha Venture Capital, a local VC firm, and Oxford Bioscience Partners (OBP), a leading Boston-based VC player. The fund is currently worth KRW75 billion. CrystalGenomics is the first public company to receive funding from it.
The quality of the science and technology and professional management of CrystalGenomics caught the attention of OBP, said Jonathan Fleming, managing general partner of the VC firm.
"We are especially hopeful that the two lead programs at CrystalGenomics have a good potential to bring breakthrough treatments for pain and infectious disease to patients around the world and for CrystalGenomics to grow into a big successful company as a result," he added.
Sei-hun An, a partner at Hanwha VC, explained that the firm decided to invest based on the expectation that new treatments for osteoarthritis have the potential to meet significant unmet medical needs. "We hope that CrystalGenomics can leverage its close relationship with us to succeed in developing a globally recognized novel drug," An said.
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