POSCO Inter invests in BioApp... Supporting growth into a unicorn company

50 Billion Investment in the First Company of the Small and Medium Venture Support Program

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] POSCO International announced on the 21st that it has invested 5 billion KRW in 'BioApp,' the first company in the small and medium venture support program supported by the company. BioApp issued third-party allotment new shares, which POSCO International purchased. This corresponds to 4.4% of BioApp's shares.

BioApp is a bio venture company developing vaccines for human and animal diseases such as African swine fever and COVID-19 vaccines. It possesses a 'plant protein platform' technology that produces biopharmaceuticals using proteins extracted from plants.

The 5 billion KRW investment will be used for BioApp's factory expansion, equipment investment, and domestic and international vaccine clinical trials for African swine fever, avian influenza, and others.

The reason POSCO International invested in BioApp is due to the high growth potential of the plant protein platform technology. The 'Green Vaccine' produced using the plant protein platform technology utilizes proteins isolated and purified from plants, resulting in almost no side effects and excellent efficacy compared to existing vaccines. Moreover, it is a technology with great scalability into the red bio industry as it can rapidly mass-produce various types of vaccines and therapeutics.

Thanks to this technological capability, BioApp has attracted a total investment of 16 billion KRW from various institutions, including 4.5 billion KRW from Hanmi Science since 2020, as well as Daekyo Investment and others.

To support BioApp's overseas expansion, POSCO International signed an export license agreement for the African swine fever vaccine with Canadian company PlantForm in May. Going forward, it plans to actively promote global marketing in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and other countries by utilizing its global network of over 80 partners.

Meanwhile, POSCO Group plans to actively support BioApp to grow into a unicorn company with a corporate value exceeding 1 trillion KRW by 2030. To this end, POSCO Holdings and RIST, POSCO Group's practical research institute, will jointly provide an incubating center for vaccine mass production, and POSCO Engineering & Construction and POSCO ICT will also participate in establishing green bio material and pharmaceutical production facilities domestically and internationally.

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