Best Cell Therapy Companies in South Korea
The 43 best Cell Therapy companies in South Korea in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: ExocoBio.
- Cell Therapy Market
- Growing Approvals for Cell-based Therapies Fuels the Sector
- Cell Therapy Market Climbs on Positive Outlook of Booming Sales 2020-2
Ranked: Best Cell Therapy companies in South Korea
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Founder | Founded | Tech stack | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ExocoBio Developer of exosome-based therapeutics for regenerative medicine | $47M | 72 mo ago | Series C | Byong Cho Co-Founder & CEO | 2017 | PHPNginx | 203 patents Plant- and yeast-derived exosome formulations for therapeutic and cosmetic applications | — |
| 2 | NEXEL Provider of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cells and organoids | $27M | 64 mo ago | Series B | Choongseong Han CEO | 2012 | PHPBootstrapNginx+10 | 68 patents Patents concentrated in health & consumer products | — |
| 3 | Daan Biotherapeutics Developer of therapeutics for cancer treatment 19Moat top 38%Talent top 38%Patents top 43%Funding top 44% All 9 signals ▾Moattop 38% Talenttop 38% Patentstop 43% Fundingtop 44% Innovationbottom 47% Globalbottom 40% Growthbottom 35% Techbottom 31% Marketbottom 19% Moat: Editorial + unicorn rating 4/10 · IP moat: 8 patents Talent: 2 named leaders on record · 2 C-suite/founder profiles curated rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 19/100 | $17M | 31 mo ago | Series A | J Han Founder | 2020 | GnuboardMySQLPHP+18 | 8 patents Targeted immunotherapy: CEACAM5-specific antibodies and engineered T‑cell receptors for cancer. | — |
| 4 | CTCELLS Developer of cell-based therapeutics for oncology | $15M | 53 mo ago | Series B | Minseok Kim CEO | 2020 | Cart FunctionalitySquarespace CommerceSquarespace+14 | 43 patents Cell sorting/isolation devices and NK cell differentiation for immunotherapy manufacturing | — |
| 5 | S&E bio Developer of cell therapies for neurological disorders | $7M | 43 mo ago | Series A | Oh Bang CEO | 2019 | — | 647 patents Patents concentrated in health & consumer products | — |
| 6 | Apicell Therapeutics Developer of gene therapies for the treatment of immunological diseases | $7M | 49 mo ago | Series A | Seng-Ho Jeon CEO | 2020 | — | — | — |
| 7 | SCM Lifescience Stem cell therapeutics and related services | $5M | 94 mo ago | Public | Sun Song Founder | 2014 | PHPNginxGSAP+15 | 113 patents Patents concentrated in health & consumer products | — |
| 8 | Superin Therapeutics Developer of cell-based therapeutics for spinal cord injury | $2M | 81 mo ago | Series A | Jeong Beom Kim Founder & CEO | 2017 | — | — | — |
| 9 | Karis Bio Developer of cell therapies for cardiovascular diseases 29Funding top 49%Talent bottom 45%Market bottom 38%Global bottom 36% All 4 signals ▾Fundingtop 49% Talentbottom 45% Marketbottom 38% Globalbottom 36% Funding: Raised $307k across 1 rounds · 1 rounds over 1 yrs (1.0/yr) Talent: 1 named leader on record rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 29/100 | $307K | 12 mo ago | Funding Raised | Young Yoon CEO | 2020 | — | — | — |
Top 12 Cell Therapy companies in South Korea
#1
Funding Raised · Seoul, Seoul · founded 2020 · 24 employees$306.6Kraised▾
Developer of cell therapies for cardiovascular diseases. The company has human-induced pluripotent stem cell therapeutics for the treatment of peripheral arterial disease, hemic heart disease, diabetic retinopathy, diabetic neuropathy, and wound healing.
- Aug 2025Grant (prize money)$306.6K
#2
Series A · Seoul, Seoul · founded 2020 · 4 employees$17.2Mraised▾
Developer of therapeutics for cancer treatment. It offers immune-based cell therapies against lung cancer that expresses T Cell Receptors(TCR) based on natural killer cells and target EGFR mutations.
- Jan 2024Series A$17.2M
#3
Series C · Seoul, Seoul · founded 2017 · 99 employees$47.3Mraised▾
ExocoBio has developed an exosome-based therapeutics for regenerative medicine. The therapy uses exosomes secreted by stem cells which stimulate cellular regeneration. The stem cell-derived exosomes contain growth factors and are involved in cell-to-cell communication. The ASC-Exosome has been developed for skin regeneration. The company is developing exosome-based cosmeceuticals, medical devices, skin & hair regeneration and biopharmaceuticals.
- Aug 2020Series C$9.3M
- Sep 2018Series B$27M
- May 2017Series A$11M
#4
Series B · Daegu, Daegu · founded 2020$15.1Mraised▾
Developer of cell-based therapeutics for oncology. It offers drug candidates which include CTC-01 for acute myeloid leukemia, CTC-02 for solid tumors, CTC-03 for colorectal cancer, and others.
- Mar 2022Series B$10.7M
- Apr 2021Series A$4.4M
#5
Series A · Seoul, Seoul · founded 2019$7.3Mraised▾
Developer of cell therapies for neurological disorders. The company is developing mesenchymal stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles therapeutics for the treatment of acute stroke, moyamoya disease, chronic stroke, dementia, cognitive disorder, and others.
- Dec 2022Series A$7.3M
#6
Series B · Seoul, Seoul · founded 2012 · 22 employees$27Mraised▾
Provider of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cells and organoids. It manufactures iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes, neurons, and hepatocytes for drug response, 3D printing, and electrophysiological experiments. The company also produces iPSC-derived cardiac and heart organoids, offering services in cardiac safety evaluation, custom cell production, and iPSC reprogramming. It develops and patents new drug candidates using hiPSC-based technologies and disease models. These services support drug development, reducing reliance on animal testing.
- Apr 2021Series B$15.6M
- 2019Series B—
#7
Series A · Gimhae si, South Gyeongsang Province · founded 2020 · 25 employees$7.3Mraised▾
Developer of gene therapies for the treatment of immunological diseases. The company is developing a cell gene therapy based on mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) by using Affimer platform technology to develop therapies for incurable diseases such as autoimmune diseases and transplant rejection.
- Jul 2022Series A—
- Feb 2021Series A$7.3M
#8
Public · Incheon, Incheon · founded 2014 · 53 employees$4.8Mraised▾
SCM Lifescience develops stem cell therapeutics and related services. The company uses a proprietary subfractionation culturing method (SCM) to isolate mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from adipose tissue, bone marrow and periodontal ligaments. The procedure produces MSCs that are non-immunogenic in nature, and thus can be used as universal donor cells. SCM is investigating MSC therapeutics for indications like immune-related or inflammatory diseases such as graft-versus host disease, atopic dermatitis and pancreatitis. In addition, the company also offers CMO services for stem cell production and clonal stem cell banking services.
- Oct 2018Series A$4.8M
#9
Series A · Ulsan, Ulsan · founded 2017 · 4 employees$1.7Mraised▾
Developer of cell-based therapeutics for spinal cord injury. It offers a lead compound SGS101 is an implantable ECM-based natural polymer-based hydrogel to protect the wound on spinal cord.
- Nov 2019Series A$1.7M
#10
Public · Seoul, Seoul · founded 2000 · 43 employees—raised▾
Established a research institute in Boston in 2000, Anterogen began commercializing products using adipose-derived stem cells for the first time in Korea.In January 2012, we obtained a market authorization of Cupistem® injection as an adipose-derived stem cell therapy product for the first time in the world.Anterogen, an emerging global leader in the field of cell therapy products, has developed Adipocell® (for the treatment of depressed scar), Queencell® (for the regeneration of subcutaneous adipose tissue) and Cupistem® injection (for the treatment of Crohn's fistula) with accumulated experiences and R&D technology in stem cell therapy
- Jan 2019Post IPO—
#11
Public · Seoul, Seoul · founded 2011 · 6 employees—raised▾
StemLab is focused on cell programming technology to discover molecular pathways that will engender early development stages of various cells that can have the clinical value. It is currently developing the cells that will regenerate the central nervous system (CNS) with the initial target on spinal cord injury and is planning to expand to age and genetically related diseases. It has also expanded hair follicle cells while retaining hair growth potentials and also developed cell lines for skin regeneration. It also manufactures clinically proven and fully automated MRI systems medical imaging systems and pencil-beam bone densitometer.
- Sep 2015Seed—
#12
Public · Seoul, Seoul · founded 2010 · 113 employees—raised▾
Kang Stem Biotech is focussed on developing stem cell-based therapies primarily for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. It has developed the isolation technology of cord blood-derived stem cells, the mass culturing technology of cord blood-derived stem cells and an easier and efficient technique for inducing human neural stem cells ready for the personalized medicine. Its pipeline has Furestem-AD for Atopic dermatitis (phase 1/2a completed); Furestem-RA for Rheumatoid Arthritis (phase 1completed) and Furestem-CD (ongoing phase 1/2a). It also has preclinical candidates for Osteoarthritis, Atherosclerosis and Obliterans.
- 2015Post IPO—
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Cell Therapy coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
How research on Cell Therapy is moving in South Korea
A read on the academic research around Cell Therapy — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 506 South Korea-affiliated papers.
- Seoul National University78
- Yonsei University40
- Samsung Medical Center40
- Sungkyunkwan University39
- Catholic University of Korea38
- Immunotherapy1→18
- Immune system2→12
- Cancer immunotherapy1→7
- Cytotoxic T cell1→6
- Mesenchymal stem cell6→9
- Immune system6→26
- Immunotherapy6→22
- Clinical trial4→17
- In vivo2→10
- Mesenchymal stem cell56→61
- Regenerative medicine2→6
- Mesenchymal stem cell11→14
- Immune system1→4
- Cancer1→4
- Transplantation2→4
Where cell therapy is researched across South Korea
Location clusters by institution affiliation — each city's volume, stance tone, and a quick read on its hot topic, what's advancing, the opening opportunity, and the main concern.
Who's filing cell therapy patents in South Korea
South Korea cell therapy patent filing is accelerating — 155 filings from 137 assignees (2016–2025), led by Eutilex, Samsung, Seoul NAT UNIV R&DB Foundation; annual filings 6→16.
- Eutilex19
- Samsung15
- Seoul NAT UNIV R&DB Foundation15
- Sewon Cellontech14
- Catholic UNIV Korea IND Academic13
- Kolon Tissuegene12
- Kolon LIFE Science12
- Curamys8
Common questions
Rohit lives in the feed. He covers what's moving right now — the funding rounds, launches and shifts breaking across the trade press — and ties them back to where the sector is heading.