‘Ultramicro Gene Scissors’ Jincore Raises 15 Billion KRW in Series A Funding

Stick Ventures Leads, Aju IB, Kiwoom Inve, SJ, Clairevoyant Participate
Expecting Competitive Edge in Ultra-Small Base Editing Gene Scissors Technology

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] ‘JinCore (GenKOre)’, a startup from the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, has secured external funding. Despite a frozen investment sentiment, it received recognition for its growth potential and secured a significant amount of investment. Attention is focused on its future moves.

According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 18th, JinCore recently completed a Series A investment round worth 15 billion KRW. This round was led by Stick Ventures. In addition to Stick Ventures, multiple venture capital (VC) firms including Aju IB Investment, Kiwoom Investment, SJ Partners, and Clairvoyant Ventures participated.

Founded in 2019, JinCore is a company possessing next-generation ultra-small gene editing technology. Yong-Sam Kim, the former head of the Gene Editing Research Center at the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, serves as the CEO.

For in vivo gene editing therapy, technology is needed to deliver gene scissors to the desired location according to the therapeutic purpose. Generally, ‘AAV (Adeno-Associated Virus)’ is used. However, the gene size that AAV can deliver is limited to 4.7kb. ‘CRISPR-Cas9’, known as Cas9, is representative, but it has limitations as a therapeutic agent due to the large gene size.

In response, JinCore focused on miniaturizing base editing gene scissors and succeeded in developing ultra-small gene editing technology. As a result, delivery became possible not only to the liver, which was previously deliverable, but also to various tissues such as the brain, muscles, heart, and lungs. It is evaluated that the possibility of use as a gene therapy agent has increased because base editing, which does not require DNA cleavage, is possible.

Recently, it also published a paper in the online edition dated August 2nd Korean time of the world-renowned journal ‘Nature Chemical Biology’ (IF 16.174).

Additionally, it expanded its Seoul research center and recruited a large-scale workforce. It is developing gene therapies based on ultra-small gene editing technology. The company aims to contribute to human advancement by developing various gene editing technologies for gene therapy.

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