In the previous month, the size of new investments by domestic venture capital (VC) firms in Start - Ups rebounded in just a month, helped by the stock market boom. In particular, as investment fever shifted to the initial public offering market, VCs continued investing in pre-IPO (fundraising before listing) rounds for Start - Ups set to go public, including IM Biologics.
According to the "October Start - Up fundraising settlement of account" compiled by ChosunBiz and Mark&Company on the 5th, about 386.2 billion won was invested in 84 Start - Ups last month. Compared with a year earlier, when about 340 billion won was invested in 87 Start - Ups, the number of Start - Ups raising funds decreased, but the amount rose 13.6%.
Mark&Company is a domestic VC that operates InnoForest, a Start - Up growth analysis platform, and tallied new investments by domestic VCs and institutional investors in Start - Ups from the seed stage through the pre-IPO stage together with ChosunBiz. Secondary transactions of Start - Up shares between institutions were excluded from the tally.
The stock market boom also worked positively on the venture investment market. As the KOSPI broke through the so-called "Sacheonpi (KOSPI 4000)," expectations for an active exit market grew in tandem. The KOSDAQ index, which had been left out of the KOSPI's rise, also recovered the 900 level last month. It was the first time in about 1 year and 7 months since April last year.
The pre-IPO market led the rebound in investment size on expectations of immediate benefits. The fact that, amid the stock market boom, the share prices of newly listed corporations continued an uptrend beyond a brief pop on the listing day also worked positively.
In fact, IM Biologics, a biotech developing new drugs such as immuno-oncology therapies, attracted a 42.2 billion won pre-IPO investment last month from Atinum Investment, Partners Investment, and others. The pre-IPO rounds of mobility service corporations Autohands and circular economy corporation Superbin also drew 15.5 billion won and 14.5 billion won, respectively.
A source in the VC industry said, "Pre-IPO rounds, which had been shunned by VCs because listing valuations were suppressed and post-listing share price trends were often weak, have recently changed," adding, "With an unprecedented stock market boom, the post-listing share price performance of newly listed companies has appeared solid, restoring expectations for a listing premium."
By sector, bio and healthcare led last month's rebound in investment size. As investor sentiment for biotech stocks has continued in the domestic stock market and listings have sped up for corporations that achieved results such as licensing-out of candidate substances, it was reported that VCs are making first-offer investment proposals to major biotechs.
A total of 15 bio and healthcare Start - Ups, including IM Biologics, which filed for a preliminary listing review at the end of last month aiming to list in the first half of next year, as well as DmapBio, Medifab, Pinotbio, KSBtugen, Noaspharm, and TR, raised 121 billion won in investments. They ranked No. 1 in both fundraising size and number of corporations.
Among VCs that made the most active investments last month, Smilegate Investment topped the list. It invested in eight Start - Ups, including Gadget Korea, Daedong Agtech, MediMabBio, and I Hate Flying Bugs. In addition, Korea Development Bank invested in four companies, and Mirae Asset Venture Investment and Stick Ventures made new investments in three companies each.