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Mint Venture Partners, a venture studio specializing in bio and healthcare, announced on the 3rd that it has successively listed three of its major portfolio companies from its first fund—Organoid Science, AIMED Bio, and Meju—on the KOSDAQ market.
Mint Venture Partners is a venture studio that invests in bio and healthcare companies while also discovering technologies from universities and hospitals to establish companies directly. It began its investment operations in earnest upon establishing its first fund, "Mint Global Biotech Private Equity Partnership," in 2021.
Organoid Science, invested in by the first fund, listed on KOSDAQ last May. In December of the same year, antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) new drug developer AIMED Bio joined the market, and in March this year, wearable ECG monitoring company Meju also entered the KOSDAQ market.
The return multiple relative to investment was highest for AIMED Bio at 23.1 times. Meju and Organoid Science recorded multiples of 9.1 times and 1.47 times, respectively. Mint Venture Partners explained that through this, it recovered its principal and benchmark returns five years after establishing its first blended fund.
The current investment portfolio consists of a total of 27 companies: 17 domestic and 10 overseas. The firm is also moving to establish two new investment funds. It plans to expand investments in areas such as new drug development, diagnostics, and precision medicine, centering on AI (artificial intelligence) healthcare in the future.
The venture studio business is also being conducted concurrently. This involves discovering technologies from universities and hospitals domestically and abroad, reviewing their commercial viability, and establishing companies jointly with technology developers such as doctors and researchers. After establishment, the firm participates in business development, fundraising, talent acquisition, and growth strategy formulation.
To date, Mint Venture Partners has directly established four bio and healthcare startups. Kiproteo, established in Seattle, USA, is developing early diagnosis technology for newborn genetic diseases utilizing protein analysis. Genotwin is developing early detection technology for new infectious diseases using genomic analysis. Vubrain Healthcare is developing AI-based early diagnosis technology for Alzheimer's disease. Lucera Healthcare is developing medical and cosmetic products utilizing wearable OLEDs.
Mint Venture Partners is also promoting cooperation between companies to expand its venture studio business. This involves jointly conducting technology discovery, commercialization, and fundraising with companies seeking to enter the bio and healthcare sector or expand existing businesses, leading to the establishment of new legal entities.
Song Jae-hoon, Chairman of Mint Venture Partners, stated, "During my tenure as President of Samsung Seoul Medical Center, I realized that continuous support is necessary even after startup establishment for research achievements to lead to actual business." He added, "Based on expertise in the bio and healthcare sector and a network within the medical community, we will pursue both investment and direct entrepreneurship."
[MoneyToday Startup Media Platform Unicorn Factory]
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