South Korean AI Drug Discovery Firm Oncocross Secures $14M Series B Funding and Files for IPO

Recently, Oncocross announced that it had successfully secured approximately $14 million in Series B financing from a consortium of South Korean investment firms, including SM-Sino Technology Investment, G.N. Tech Venture, and Smilegate Investment. The proceeds from this round will primarily be used to acquire competitive new drug pipelines through technology licensing from bioventures and pharmaceutical companies, conduct clinical trials for existing pipeline candidates, and recruit top industry talent.

Oncocross, established in 2015, is a high-tech pharmaceutical company leveraging AI platform technologies to discover novel drug candidates and identify new indications for drugs under development. Oncocross primarily focuses on collaborating with pharmaceutical companies in the field, targeting drug candidates entering clinical stages or marketed drugs with established safety profiles.

Company Business Model

This round of financing saw continued participation from Series A investors, including SM-Sino Technology Investment, GNtech VC, Smilegate Investment, Wooshin VC, Magna Investment, ID Ventures, Ebest Investment & Securities, and Hana Financial Investment, as well as new participation via FI from KB Securities, Nauib Capital, Visioncreator, and KDB Capital.

In January 2019, Oncocross signed a contract with the South Korean listed company Jeilpharm to identify new indications for Jeilpharm’s investigational drug ‘JPI-289’ using Oncocross’s AI-driven drug discovery platform. In June 2019, Oncocross transferred the technology for its independently developed novel drug candidates for sarcopenia, ‘OC-501/504’, to Korea Pharma. According to sources at Oncocross, ‘OC-501/504’ was selected through AI and represents the first case in South Korea where an AI-discovered drug candidate was transferred to a pharmaceutical company after completion of animal studies. If clinical trials proceed successfully, it could also become the world’s first AI-developed drug to receive regulatory approval. Currently, Oncocross collaborates not only with domestic listed and unlisted pharmaceutical companies in South Korea but also with major global pharmaceutical firms as well as numerous renowned universities and research institutions overseas.

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