Attention is focusing on the background as AprilBio secured about 437 billion won in "dry powder." The company has more than 80 billion won in cash on hand and a cumulative 1.2 trillion won in technology export deals, yet it moved to raise a large amount of capital. Some raised the possibility of developing its own new drugs, but the company said the decision is to speed up research and development (R&D) by pursuing multiple pipelines simultaneously while maintaining its existing business model centered on technology exports.
On the 25th, AprilBio said it attracted investment from TKG Huchems and IMM Investment Group, boosting available funds, including existing cash on hand, to about 437 billion won. Based on this, the company set a goal of reaching a market capitalization of 10 trillion won within three years by pursuing external technology in-licensing and mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
The company held a board meeting the previous day and resolved to proceed with a third-party allotment paid-in capital increase totaling 346.8 billion won. It will issue common shares worth 141.8 billion won and nonvoting convertible preferred shares worth 50 billion won to IMM Asset Management and IMM Scale-up Bio No. 1 Private Equity Fund. It also plans to issue voting convertible preferred shares worth 155 billion won to TKG Huchems and IMM Startup Venture Fund No. 2.
The fundraising is also expected to lead to changes in the governance structure. The largest shareholder now is founder CEO Cha Sang-hun, who holds 18.96% equity. However, once the transaction is completed, the IMM/TKG side is expected to become the largest shareholder, surpassing Cha.
AprilBio is a biotech venture founded in Jan. 2013 by Kangwon National University professor Cha Sang-hun. It entered the KOSDAQ market in July 2022 through the technology special-listing program.
The company has built a business model of developing candidates through preclinical and early clinical stages and then out-licensing them to global pharmaceutical companies. It secures upfront payments, milestone payments, and running royalties, and reinvests them in subsequent R&D.
A representative case is "APB-A1," a thyroid eye disease treatment candidate out-licensed to Denmark's Lundbeck in 2021 for about 560 billion won. It is now in phase 2. In 2024, the company transferred "APB-R3," an autoinflammatory disease treatment candidate, to U.S.-based Evommune for about 650 billion won. The molecule is being developed as an atopic dermatitis treatment and recently produced meaningful efficacy data in phase 2a.
As such, AprilBio's cumulative technology export deal value to date amounts to about 1.2 trillion won. Actual upfront and milestone receipts total around 60 billion won. As of the end of March this year, cash and cash equivalents plus short-term financial instruments stood at 82.9 billion won, so it is not immediately facing a cash shortage.
Because of this, the market speculated that, with the large funding secured, the company might shift strategy to directly develop some pipelines instead of out-licensing them. However, the company drew a line against the possibility of converting into a developer of its own new drugs.
An AprilBio official said, "To date, the company's business model has been to enhance candidate value at an early stage and then transfer the technology," adding, "This fundraising is not intended for in-house commercialization or late-stage clinical development."
The company said the large fundraising is to expand R&D speed, not to shift its business model. With limited funds and personnel, it had developed pipelines sequentially, but going forward it will be able to push multiple projects at the same time.
The official said, "Previously, we progressed one project at a time with cash of around 80 billion to 90 billion won," and explained, "With this investment, we can expand our research staff and develop multiple pipelines simultaneously, which will accelerate our overall R&D pace."
The company currently cites antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) based on the "REMAP" platform and an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) treatment candidate as its most focused pipelines.
The REMAP-based ADC is a bispecific antibody ADC anticancer drug that simultaneously targets HER2 and PD-L1, proteins on the surface of cancer cells. It is being developed as a solid tumor therapy, aiming to combine HER2-mediated drug delivery efficiency with PD-L1–based immunomodulatory function to reduce tumor heterogeneity and treatment resistance.
The IBD therapy simultaneously targets tumor necrosis factor ligand superfamily member 15 (TL1A) and interleukin-23 (IL-23), which drive chronic inflammation. The company expects that inhibiting both targets at the same time can more broadly modulate the diverse inflammatory pathways that cause disease than existing single-target therapies.
REMAP is a next-generation multi-target antibody platform that advances AprilBio's existing "SAFA" platform. While SAFA is a technology that extends duration of action, REMAP is characterized by being designed to allow a single therapy to simultaneously hit multiple disease targets.
In addition, it is expanding new pipelines such as a SAFA-based metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis (MASH) therapy and a dual-target small interfering RNA (siRNA) therapy under joint development with Qurient. Based on the new funding, the company plans to develop these projects in parallel while seeking additional technology export opportunities.
However, securing more than 400 billion won in dry powder does not guarantee improved results. While the R&D expense burden has eased, performance improvement remains a task. AprilBio has a business structure with significant revenue volatility depending on technology export outcomes.
In fact, last year's revenue was 2.1 billion won, down 92.1% from a year earlier, and the company swung to a loss with an operating loss of 7.2 billion won. The industry believes that if the company succeeds in further out-licensing its REMAP-based ADC and IBD therapy and SAFA-based new pipelines, a rebound in results is possible.
A securities firm analyst said, "It is more accurate to see AprilBio as having secured a stable funding base rather than having turned into a developer of its own new drugs," adding, "The key to this fundraising is that, depending on out-licensing outcomes, it can ease the burden of having to raise funds and develop multiple pipelines in parallel."