Invest Seoul participated in the 2023 Bio International Convention(BioUSA) held in Boston, the center of the bio-industry in North America to support promising Seoul-based companies in the bio/pharmaceutical, digital healthcare and medical device fields and supported them to attract foreign capital.
‘BioUSA’ held at the Boston Convention Center for 4 days from June 5th to 8th is the world’s largest bio/pharmaceutical and healthcare industry exhibition, visited by bio industry officials, researchers, investors from all over the world to attract investment, it is an opportunity to discuss the possibility of research and technology cooperation.
Invest Seoul took this opportunity to focus on Boston, a world-class bio cluster, and actively introduce Seoul as an investment base for the Asian bio/medical industry and the technological innovation of Seoul-based companies to the global market.
First, Invest Seoul selected a total of 10 Seoul-based companies(Nueyne, MitoImmune Therapeutics, Bertis, Seven Point One, AmtixBio, ILIAS Biologic, todoc, Hai, onconic Therapeutics, Karis Bio) whose global competitiveness has been verified through screening by domestic bio-specialized venture capital and US bio cluster experts and supported them to participated in the BioUSA. And they were given one-on-one investment matching opportunities with global big pharma and leading foreign investors.
Around 18,000 visitors from 85 countries all over the world gathered in this BioUSA. The 10 companies supported by Invest Seoul drew great attention from global investors and pharmaceutical companies and carried out about 180 one-to-one investment matching. It made us all able to feel the elevated interest and the value of technology and companies.
In addition, Invest Seoul worked with CIC(Cambridge Innovation Center), a key player in the Boston Innovation Bio Cluster, which is called the No. 1 bio-industry network, to operate an intensive program for overseas expansion and investment attraction of Seoul-based companies. The program went for 5 weeks and consisted of one-on-one mentoring with local experts by each company, pitching coaching, licensing, incorporation, clinical trials, special lectures on local market entry and pre-IR sessions.
On the evening of June 5, CIC and Seoul Metropolitan Government co-hosted a separate IR event called, ‘Invest Seoul Pitch Night’. Invest Seoul promoted the global competitiveness of Seoul-based companies and investment environment of Seoul City and received favorable response from the attendance through pitching for investment attraction from Bio companies located in Seoul as well as panel discussions with domestic and foreign investors. About 100 local VCs and IBs, as well as global big pharma such as Roche, Takeda and local major investors and corporate/industrial officials such as Biotech and MIT, participated in the event to have meeting and networking time to discuss investment and joint research connections with Seoul-based companies.
A representative of a participating company said “This project was well organized with the chances for the partnering and networking with pharmaceutical companies and global leading investors, and it gave us an practical help to prepare to enter the US market and to attract global capital.”
Invest Seoul will continue to expand the global investment network and strengthen the partnership with global bio-industry major clusters such as CIC, MassBio, and LabCentral. And we plan to operate support programs to attract foreign capital for promising companies in Seoul.