Lotte Holdings is preparing to raise a second healthcare venture fund with its first mandate to invest directly in Korean biotechnology companies, as its managing partner contends that Japan's pharmaceutical industry is sitting on a pipeline shortage that its neighbor is uniquely placed to address.
The obstacle, he says, is that the channel between the two markets barely exists.
Paek Hyun-joon manages Lotte Holdings' Healthcare and Biopharmaceutical Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) from Tokyo, a position that makes him, by his own account, the only Korean managing a Japan-based healthcare fund.
The CVC's first vehicle, established in August 2024, has made about 10 investments in companies across the United States, Japan, Taiwan and Switzerland and is nearly fully allocated.
A second fund is expected to close within a year, he said, and Korean startups will be a focus for the first time.
Read the full article on [Korea Biomedical Review]
