South Korea-based pharmaceutical company Hanmi Pharmaceutical has formed a ₩10bn ($8.7m) corporate venturing fund called Hanmi Ventures, the Korea Herald has reported.
Jonghoon Lim, CEO of the firm’s Hanmi IT division, will head the unit. He told the Herald: “We will contribute to create an open innovation ecosystem by focusing on discovering new drug candidates and pharmaceutical and biotech startups.”
Hanmi raised the capital for the fund from its chairman Lim Sung-ki and other, undisclosed affiliates of the company.
The move follows the lead of another Korea-headquartered pharmaceutical company, Dong-A Socio Holdings, which established a CVC subsidiary dubbed NS Investment last year.
Pharmaceutical manufacturer and supplier Boryung Pharmaceutical meanwhile intends to primarily take part in corporate venturing as a limited partner, though a spokesperson told the Herald. “In the long term, we hope to have an independent investment group to nurture startups engaged with our (new drug) pipeline.”