Orange Grove Bio, a USA-based pre-clinical drug investment and development firm, and SV Investment, a South Korea-based venture capital and private equity firm, today announced the establishment of a new partnership through which the companies will collaborate on jointly sourcing and developing novel therapeutics in the USA and Korea. As priority partners, the companies will cultivate the US and Korean biotech landscape through technology licensing and company creation in their respective geographic areas.
Under terms of the partnership, SV Investment will leverage its relationships with biotech companies and academic institutions in Korea to identify licensing opportunities for promising early-stage research in the area of drug development. As part of the agreement, Marc Appel, chief executive of Orange Grove, will join SV Investment as a venture partner and will play a key role in evaluating the licensing opportunities that are identified at Korean biotech companies and universities. As appropriate, Orange Grove will work to license these technologies as a basis for life science company creation in the USA, with SV Investment serving as an early-stage investor in the companies.