Samsung to invest $52 mn in U.S. bio fund

Kim Jae-woo, vice president of Samsung C&T’s Life Science business(left), and Stephen Berenson, Pioneering managing partner(right). [Courtesy of Flagship Pioneering YouTube]

Samsung C&T Corp., a trading and investment unit under South Korea’s Samsung Group, is accelerating its efforts to foster new ventures in the bio industry.

Samsung C&T announced on Thursday that it will invest in the U.S.-based Flagship Pioneering Fund VIII through the Samsung Life Science Fund II (SVIC No. 64), which is a 72 billion won ($52.47 million) fund the company established jointly with Samsung Biologics Co. and Samsung Bioepis Co. in collaboration with Samsung Venture Investment Corp.

Flagship Pioneering Fund VIII, managed by U.S. venture capital firm Flagship Pioneering Inc., is a sizable fund valued at $2.6 billion. This fund will focus on investing in new drug development platform technologies that leverage artificial intelligence (AI).

Flagship Pioneering specializes in life sciences with up to 19 trillion won in assets under management. It has founded around 100 companies, including Moderna Inc.

Samsung C&T will receive priority information about innovative life science companies from Flagship Pioneering and will review investment opportunities on a company-by-company basis.

“We plan to use this investment as a window to explore new bio-business opportunities,” said a company official.