Handok's 'Bio Accelerator' InnoCube Launches Support for Startups

Handok's subsidiary, biohealthcare accelerator company InnoCube, announced on the 31st that it has selected four teams?Pulse in Myers, DuBio, EPID Bio Therapeutics, and Professor Yunseok Heo of Keimyung University?for the biohealthcare startup nurturing contest ‘S to B (Science to Business) Challenge 1st Edition.’ The selected teams will receive up to 500 million KRW in funding, along with various infrastructure and mentoring support.

Kwon Sohyun, CEO of InnoCube, and Heo Yunseok, Professor at Keimyung University selected as the first cohort of the 'S to B Challenge,' Choi Jaehyun, CEO of EPD Biotherapeutics, and Jeon Kyunghee, CEO of DuBio (from left), are posing for a commemorative photo.
[Photo by InnoCube]

The S to B Challenge 1st Edition, co-hosted by InnoCube, Handok, and Genexine, targeted prospective and early-stage entrepreneurs with innovative technologies in the biohealthcare field. Applications were accepted from February 27 to March 10, followed by document screening and the first round of face-to-face evaluations. On the 25th, final presentations for company selection were held at the Handok Future Complex. The evaluation for the final selection included organizers InnoCube, Handok, Genexine, as well as Smilegate Investment and Korea Investment Accelerator.

Through this process, the S to B Challenge selected ▲Pulse in Myers, developing anticancer drugs using synthetic lethality technology ▲DuBio, developing treatments for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) through a deubiquitinase inhibitor development platform ▲EPID Bio Therapeutics, developing a bioPROTAC platform to overcome limitations in the targeted protein degradation technology PROTAC ▲and Professor Yunseok Heo of Keimyung University’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, developing a dual biosensor for measuring metabolic disease biomarkers. The selected teams will receive up to 500 million KRW in funding, shared office space, laboratory infrastructure including research equipment, and development mentoring supported through collaboration with Handok and Genexine.

Sohyun Kwon, CEO of InnoCube, said, “Seeing companies with diverse technologies apply to the S to B Challenge showed that the seeds of innovation are growing even in difficult environments. We will actively support the excellent ideas selected this time to grow into successful businesses.”

InnoCube is a biohealthcare accelerator company that discovers startups with outstanding capabilities, provides initial funding, shared research spaces, research equipment, and infrastructure, as well as total services including project development discussions and management support to nurture startups. It officially launched its accelerator business at the Handok Future Complex in June last year and completed accelerator registration in November of the same year. In March, it completed the formation and registration of its first venture fund, and in April, it was selected as a TIPS operator by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.