KOICA attracts domestic and international investment for 'K-Quarantine' companies... Launches 'Investment Platform' with US and Australian governments

Investment Expo on COVID-19 and Infectious Disease Response Technologies via Investment Platform Wadiz

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) has stepped up as a strong supporter to revitalize the development cooperation ecosystem, which has been stagnated due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), and to help Korean companies with innovative development cooperation technologies attract domestic and overseas investments.

On the 15th, KOICA announced that it will launch the COVID-19 response innovation platform 'Covid-19 Innovation Hub' in partnership with the governments of the United States and Australia to attract overseas investments for Korean companies possessing innovative technologies.

This COVID-19 platform will be established within the 'Global Innovation Exchange (GIE),' the world's largest global innovation entrepreneur-investor matching website in which KOICA has been participating in operation.

GIE was launched in 2016 to enable innovators, companies, development cooperation agencies, investors, and academia worldwide to easily and accurately find ‘tailored innovations’ to solve development issues, addressing the difficulty of matching companies with innovative development cooperation technologies with investors who share common interests.

The GIE COVID-19 response innovation platform lists over 750 global companies with technologies for COVID-19 prevention, treatment, diagnosis, communication, data management, policy support, and other 12 categories. Participating companies with COVID-19 response technologies from Korea are separately categorized.

KOICA supports domestic companies with innovative COVID-19 response technologies, focusing on about 20 companies certified by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for the use and export of diagnostic kits, to be registered on this platform. Each company’s introduction page allows real-time communication between companies and investors, and companies can update their information anytime to promote their core technologies and products worldwide.

KOICA’s development cooperation partners, such as Seegene, PaxgenBio, and OneDrop, which are conducting health sector projects in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Myanmar respectively, are also included among the supported innovative companies.

Additionally, KOICA has partnered with the lifestyle investment platform Wadiz to prepare investment opportunities for ODA project partner institutions. KOICA has been discovering and supporting innovative technologies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and has collaborated with excellent partners like Seegene. Amid the COVID-19 spread, KOICA and Wadiz have decided to attract private investments to venture companies possessing infectious disease specialized technologies. Both organizations plan to introduce innovative technologies, products, and projects of ODA partner institutions using private investment platforms.

Starting from the 28th, investment subscriptions will officially begin through Wadiz under the theme ‘COVID-19 and Infectious Disease Response Technologies,’ preceded by a company pre-disclosure on the 18th and a Meetup Day (live broadcast of companies and technologies via Kakao Wadiz channel) on the 21st. Companies participating in the investment include KH Medical, which possesses COVID-19 diagnostic kit technology, and Neotop, which holds secondary infection prevention technology (needle disposal technology), both of which participated in KOICA’s innovative technology program (CTS).

Director Lee Mi-kyung said, “Currently, the COVID-19 response capabilities of our innovative companies are highly evaluated, and utilizing domestic and international investment platforms will help companies attract mid- to long-term investments. Even after the virus is eradicated, this will serve as a foundation for them to prepare for the post-COVID era, and KOICA will continue to provide support.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.