ACTNOVA(액트노바), the developer of Actverse, an AI SaaS solution for animal behaviour testing, has raised $2.5 million (KRW 3.3 billion) in pre-A financing.
The investment was led by Hana Ventures, with participation from A Ventures and Fast Ventures. ACTNOVA, a KAIST lab spin-off, previously raised $376.6K (KRW 500 million) in seed funding from Kakao Ventures and was selected for the 2023 TIPS programme after winning the CES Innovation Award in the US in 2022.
ACTNOVA uses artificial intelligence and web platform technology to analyse behavioural symptom tests in animal models, which are often conducted during drug development for brain diseases such as dementia and Parkinson’s disease. The company differentiates itself in the market through its automated products, which use machine learning technology to quantify complex behaviours that cannot be quantified with existing products, and dramatically shorten the process of diagnosing symptoms that were previously recorded manually.
The investment was attracted by ACTNOVA’s overseas expansion into MIT, the Broad Institute and other major corporations in Korea, as well as strong interest from overseas customers in the launch of new SaaS products. In addition, in the past year ACTNOVA has signed business agreements with the Korea Brain Research Institute and Daegu Medivalley Preclinical Center, and is working with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to analyse the addiction behaviour of new drugs, increasing the possibility of applying the company’s technologies and products to the real research market.
“The fact that we have been able to attract such a large amount of investment in a difficult investment environment is due to the technology of our products and the ability of our team members to target the global market,” said Daegun Ki, CEO of ACTNOVA. “With this investment, we will provide a more immersive environment for our customers and products, and become another global startup in the Korean bio-industry.”
Commenting on the investment, Sujin Jo, Capitalist/Senior Manager of Hana Ventures, who led the investment, said, “As the need for objective information derivation and quantification through automation of the animal behaviour analysis process is emerging, ACTNOVA has gained significant references in academia and industry, including major research institutes and pharmaceutical companies in Korea and abroad, despite its early stage.
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