Industrial Bank Partners with NST to Invest 103.4 Billion KRW in 39 Startups

Business Agreement with NST at the End of 2017 to Support Commercialization of Excellent Technologies
Strengthening Investment in Tech Startups Commercializing National R&D Core Technologies over the Next 5 Years

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] The Korea Development Bank (KDB) announced on the 22nd that it has invested 103.4 billion KRW in 39 startups based on excellent technologies from government-funded research institutes under the National Science and Technology Council (NST).

At the end of 2017, KDB signed a business agreement with NST to support the commercialization of excellent technologies, announcing that it would invest 100 billion KRW in startups from NST-affiliated government-funded research institutes in the science and technology field by the end of 2022.

Since the agreement with NST, KDB has continuously discovered startups linked to government-funded research institutes and invested more than 20 billion KRW annually. In May, it invested 5 billion KRW in Contec Co., Ltd., led by CEO Lee Seonghee, formerly of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), completing a total investment of 103.4 billion KRW in 39 companies.

This investment achievement by KDB is significant not only because it reached the initial goal of investing 100 billion KRW by the end of 2022 more than six months ahead of schedule, but also because it supported the commercialization of national research and development (R&D) outcomes in various scientific and technological fields such as electronics, chemistry, life sciences, machinery, and aerospace.

The 39 companies invested in by KDB are tech startups commercializing core technologies from NST-affiliated research institutes such as the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), and Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST).

Ubix Therapeutics Co., Ltd., developing anticancer drugs, signed a technology licensing agreement in 2018 with the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT) and the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), acquiring material patents and technology for ongoing R&D. KDB invested 5 billion KRW in 2020 to support the necessary funds for research and development. FCM Tech Co., Ltd., developing key components for hydrogen fuel cells, acquired patents and technology related to membrane manufacturing methods from the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER), and KDB invested 3 billion KRW this year for facility investments and other uses.

Among the companies invested in by KDB through collaboration with NST, some have been recognized for their excellent technology and growth potential and successfully listed on KOSDAQ. Syntekabio Co., Ltd., which acquired supercomputing-based biochip reader technology from ETRI (KDB invested 3 billion KRW), was listed in 2019, and Gobio Lab Co., Ltd., a drug development specialist participating in KIST’s biomedical technology development project (KDB invested 5 billion KRW), was listed on KOSDAQ in 2020.

In addition, KDB actively supports NST technology-based startups through its own venture investment attraction support platform, KDB NextRound.

Since the business agreement at the end of 2017, KDB NextRound has established a special round (NST Day) targeting NST startups and has held a total of 37 rounds, providing investor relations (IR) opportunities to 116 companies, resulting in 15 companies successfully raising 73.5 billion KRW in investment.

A KDB official stated, "We are reviewing the collaborative achievements of the past five years with NST and are currently discussing setting more progressive goals for collaboration over the next five years. KDB and NST will continue to discover and invest in tech startups that combine excellent national science and technology research capabilities, contributing together to their growth into tech unicorns and tech decacorns that will lead the global technology hegemony competition, a key policy goal of the new government."

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