South Korea’s biotech sector is having its moment. Investor optimism about the pipeline of cancer drugs being developed by biotech company Voronoi has fueled a rally in its shares, which are up by 190% so far this year. The stock surge has minted the country’s newest billionaire in Hyuntae Kim, the company’s CEO. Kim, 49, is Voronoi’s largest shareholder with a 35% stake worth $1 billion. (His wife, Kim Dae-yeon, has an additional holding of close to 1%.)
The 4.3 trillion won ($2.9 billion) market cap company, which had no revenue last year, reported sales of a modest 7.5 billion won ($5.1 million) for the first nine months of 2025, while losses widened by 62% to 38.4 billion won. Despite the company being in the red, investors are betting that its two most promising cancer drug candidates—VRN10 and VRN11—will turn things around.
VRN10 is designed to block a protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, or HER2, which causes aggressive growth in certain breast cancers. The VRN11 aims to inhibit the epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR, which is commonly mutated in non-small cell lung cancer and causes abnormal cell growth.
Phase 1 clinical trials of both drugs commenced in the first quarter of this year and are expected to finish around mid-2026. “VRN11 is progressing step by step toward validation,” Hyunsoo Ha, a researcher at Yuanta Securities, said in a report published this month. “VRN10 is also on track,” he added.
Based in Incheon, west of Seoul, Voronoi uses a proprietary AI platform called Voronomics that “revolutionizes the drug development process, enabling the rapid discovery of development candidates,” the company says on its website. In September, Voronoi had signed a $14.5 million technology transfer deal with New York-based Anvia Therapeutics for its VRN04 experimental drug that targets RIPK1, a protein linked to inflammation and cancer growth.
Voronoi was founded by Kim’s younger brother, Hyunseok, in 2015. A year later, the older Kim bought 100,000 newly issued shares of Voronoi, then a private company, for 10,000 won each. The deal made Hyuntae the largest shareholder and he became CEO in 2016. Hyunseok holds a 1.25% stake in the company and serves as its head of AI. Voronoi listed on Korea’s technology-rich Kosdaq stock exchange in 2022, raising 52 billion won.
Before taking charge at Voronoi, Hyuntae did stints as head of asset management at eBest Investment & Securities (now called LS Securities), Hanwha Investment & Securities and KB Securities. He has a bachelor’s degree in business and an M.B.A. degree from Seoul National University.
Kim joins a galaxy of South Korean biotech billionaires, including Seo Jung-jin ($7.6 billion) of biosimilars giant Celltrion; Park Soon-jae ($3.9 billion) of Alteogen; Chung Yong-ji ($1.5 billion) of anti-wrinkle shot-maker Caregen; Jung Sang-soo ($1.1 billion) of PharmaResearch, which makes skin booster injections derived from salmon sperm cells; and Lee Sang-hoon ($1.4 billion) of ABL Bio, who also entered the three-comma club this week.
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