This article was published on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 4:19 p.m. on Sep. 23, 2025.
Shares of D&D Pharmatech, a biotech company developing an oral weight-loss therapeutic in which domestic venture capital firm Kudos Ventures invested, have been soaring day after day, raising expectations of a jackpot. Even with allegations of embezzlement by the CEO of SENSEE, an artificial intelligence (AI) content creation startup for the visually impaired in which Kudos Ventures participated as an early investor, its revenue is expected to far exceed typical levels.
On the 23rd, people in the venture investment industry said Kudos Ventures still appears to hold all of its D&D Pharmatech equity. Currently, Kudos Ventures holds 208,332 shares (2.00%) through a blind fund, the Kudos Family 3 New Technology Business Investment Association, and 60,781 shares (0.58%) directly as a corporation. In addition, it converted convertible bonds (CBs) issued by D&D Pharmatech into common stock in May and secured an additional 40,000 shares.
Founded in 2014 as a company developing treatments for degenerative brain diseases, D&D Pharmatech began raising funds with a series A investment of 20 billion won in March 2018 and then held series B and series C rounds a year later in 2019, raising a total of 219 billion won.
Kudos Ventures invested in D&D Pharmatech's 59 billion won series C round. At the time, D&D Pharmatech's pre-money valuation was estimated at about 600 billion won. The round included Kudos Ventures, private equity firm Praxis Capital, DS Asset Management, Korea Investment & Securities and others.
After several failed attempts to go public, D&D Pharmatech finally entered the Kosdaq market in May last year. At the time, the expected market capitalization based on the top end of the desired offering price (26,000 won) was 270 billion won, but after institutional investor demand forecasting, the final offering price was set higher at 33,000 won, giving it a market cap of 344.2 billion won at listing. That was roughly half the pre-valuation of 600 billion won set in the last investment round.
After the long wait and D&D Pharmatech's successful listing, early investors including Smilegate Investment, InterVest and U.S. investment firm Octave Life Sciences began selling shares. Smilegate Investment and InterVest have so far disposed of 350,000 and 370,000 shares, respectively. Praxis Capital, which invested at the same time as Kudos Ventures, began selling 107,100 shares on May 15 and sold about 310,000 shares in the first half at an average of 96,000 won per share.
However, Kudos Ventures still appears to hold its D&D Pharmatech equity. An industry source said, "Most early investors, including Smilegate Investment and InterVest, started recovering funds immediately after the listing, and investors who had bought in at prices higher than the offering price began selling shares this year," and added, "but Kudos Ventures is the only one that still holds those shares."
The value of the equity Kudos Ventures holds is about 55.3 billion won based on the closing price of 205,500 won that day. The series C investment price was 48,000 won per share, meaning Kudos Ventures' initial investment (about 13 billion won) has risen about 325%. The current value of the 40,000 common shares converted from D&D Pharmatech's convertible bonds is 8.22 billion won, a 722% increase compared with the original acquisition price of 100 million won.
The industry expects Kudos Ventures to make up for the failed SENSEE investment with the gains from D&D Pharmatech. SENSEE, in which Kudos Ventures was an early investor, faced allegations this year that its CEO embezzled funds and absconded.
Since its founding, SENSEE has attracted hundreds of billions of won in investments from multiple institutions including SK Telecom, Kakao and Daesung Private Equity. (Related article: AI company that planned to list next year, CEO alleged to have embezzled funds and fled abroad... investors in shock)
Kudos Ventures participated in SENSEE's funding from the seed stage in 2020 through the series A round in 2021. At the end of last year it held 6.2% and ranked as the third-largest shareholder after CEO Suh Mo and ATP Investment.
A domestic VC official said, "With SENSEE's CEO reportedly embezzling investment funds and disappearing, Kudos Ventures also faces the risk of losing most of its investment," and added, "however, thanks to the investment performance in D&D Pharmatech, there likely won't be major problems with returns or with its track record for fundraising."