CEO Lee Seung-won had been making personal investments even before founding Ad Partners in 2021. As a result, he has built a portfolio of 31 companies. Of these, 10 have successfully gone public (IPO), and two were sold during the investment period. The average internal rate of return (IRR) for Ad Partners’ exited portfolio companies stands at 35%. The assets under management (AUM) invested in the 19 remaining portfolio companies total 32 billion won, and companies such as Vutel, Elysigen (formerly Neuracle Science), and Mirajet are expected to go public in the near future.
Ad Partners’ unique strength lies in its analytical ability to assess the novelty and market potential of technologies from a physician’s perspective. E-Daily’s pharmaceutical and biotech premium content platform, Pharm E-Daily, met with CEO Lee to discuss the firm’s investment selection criteria.
in Every Investment Round… “All-Round Doctors”
Lee Seung-won, CEO of Ad Partners, is a rheumatologist who graduated from Hanyang University College of Medicine. After graduation, he briefly worked for a company in the U.S. that imported dermatological laser equipment. During that time, he realized firsthand that, as a doctor, there were many things he could do beyond just practicing medicine.
Upon returning to Korea, Lee completed his residency in internal medicine at Gangbuk Samsung Hospital and co-founded the startup EverCare. EverCare merged with UbiCare in 2012, and UbiCare was acquired by GCGreen Cross Corporation(006280)in 2020. Lee continues to serve as an advisor to UbiCare to this day.
Although he remains closely involved in entrepreneurship and investment, CEO Lee’s primary profession is as a rheumatologist in private practice. At Hanyang Rheumatology Clinic in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do—which he opened in 2002—CEO Lee sees patients every day except for one morning a week.
“I’ve always felt a kinship with entrepreneurship,” said CEO Lee. “Investing is what I call an ‘avatar strategy.’ The joy I feel from investing, providing advice, and sharing both the highs and lows with founders is immense.”
As the number of physician acquaintances around him who wanted to participate in investments grew, CEO Lee founded ARD Partners in 2021. ARD stands for “All Round Doctors.”
He explained, “Typically, accelerators (ACs) invest from the seed stage through Pre-A, venture capital (VC) firms invest in Series A, B, and C, and private equity funds tend to invest in later stages, such as Pre-IPO (pre-initial public offering). However, since we invest in every round without discrimination, we named ourselves ‘All Round Doctors.’”
AdPartners is the only angel investor group that covers every funding round. While their investments range from 1 to 4 billion won per round—an amount too small to typically qualify for later-stage funding—they are often granted exceptions due to their unique nature as a doctors’ association, which gives them significant potential to assist portfolio companies. In fact, they help market portfolio companies’ products to medical communities and provide consulting on business pivots when necessary.
A project fund for groups of 49 or fewer physicians
Once a target company is selected, investors are recruited on a first-come, first-served basis from among Ad Partners’ members to establish a project fund. CEO Lee sometimes serves as the fund’s general partner (GP) himself, while other doctors with professional investor qualifications may also take on the role of GP.
CEO Lee stated, “We do not prefer blind funds. This is because, even if a company isn’t truly promising, having raised capital in advance can lead to investing just for the sake of investing.” He added, “We don’t operate that way; instead, when a promising company emerges, we create a project fund and invest in as many as three to four companies a year.”
When establishing these project funds, they are structured to have 49 or fewer members, in compliance with the Capital Markets Act’s limit on the number of participants in private equity funds. However, doctors who hold professional investor certification are not counted toward this 49-person limit, which makes it easier for them to participate. The investment amount per individual is capped at 50 million won, which is the annual limit for venture investment tax deductions.
He said, “While many doctors want to invest more, the purpose isn’t to make money but to find happiness,” adding, “Since this is a social gathering, the management fee I receive as a fund manager is less than one-third of what a typical investment firm charges.”
He continued, “I don’t gain any special benefit as a fund manager. However, while one should be happy to earn 300 to 500 million won from an investment of 50 million won, there are people who try to make a windfall from this,” adding, “If that happens, the psychological burden on me increases.”
He continued, “Every year, I get back nearly 50% of my investment through income tax deductions for venture investments,” adding, “Because of this, as long as I don’t lose more than 50%, it’s considered a profit.”
A total of 10 companies in which CEO Lee has invested have successfully gone public. Specifically: △ABL Bio Inc.(298380)(December 2018) △SyntekaBio,Inc.(226330)(December 2019) △ #BridgeBioTherapeutics (December 2019) △EOFlow Co., Ltd.(294090)(September 2020) △Genome&Company(314130)(December 2020) △Curocell Inc.(372320)(November 2023) △Voronoi, Inc.(310210)(June 2022) △#Orum Therapeutics, Inc. (February 2025) △#QuadMedicine Inc.(December 2025) △#IMBiologics Corp. (March 2026) and others have listed on the KOSDAQ market. The internal rate of return (IRR) on investments in these companies reached 35%.
Focus on Surgical Robots and Aesthetic Medical Devices
Ad Partners’ strength lies in selecting and investing in companies that address unmet medical needs from a physician’s perspective. CEO Lee identified surgical robots and aesthetic medical devices as investment areas to watch in the future.
“At one time, I thought there would be no market for surgical robots because Korean doctors’ manual skills were so excellent, but needs can emerge out of nowhere,” he said. “Just as we didn’t feel the need for smartphones when they first appeared but now consider them indispensable, or just as elementary school students come to rely on calculators once they’re given one, surgical robots are an area that creates a market where none previously existed.”
Although Ad Partners does not yet have a robotics portfolio, it is exploring investment opportunities. CEO Lee said, “We are considering robots for microsurgery or very specific fields,” adding, “If someone comes forward with a creative idea, we at Ad Partners are willing to build a company around it.”
He also noted, “The market potential for aesthetic medical devices is significant,” explaining, “For example, in the therapeutic drug market, when a cancer drug with a 50% overall survival (OS) rate emerges, drugs with a lower rate—say, 40%—are typically phased out. However, in the aesthetic field, whether a product’s wrinkle-reduction effectiveness is 50% or 40%, it can still succeed with effective marketing.”
Ad Partners’ aesthetic portfolio includes BioNT, which manufactures polymer fillers; ENJET Co.,LTD, which develops needle-free syringes; and RNAGen, which uses messenger RNA (mRNA) to produce collagen and elastin.
He noted, “RNAgen is a particularly notable example of a company for which Ad Partners guided the pivot,” adding, “RNAgen had been focusing on disease treatment but shifted its direction toward the aesthetics sector after meeting with us.”
mRNA refers to the mechanism by which proteins are produced; when used to create a COVID-19 antigen, it serves as a vaccine. Ad Partners approached RNAgen and commissioned the company to develop an mRNA therapeutic to produce collagen and elastin. The commission specified that the product would strengthen the skin when injected.
CEO Lee explained, “While animal-derived ingredients, such as ‘salmon testicles,’ are difficult to export to the U.S. due to the need for validation through clinical trials, the synthetic PDRN produced by RNAGen using mRNA is registered as a cosmetic ingredient, making it easy to use.” Although RNAGen has its sights set on entering the U.S. market, its strategy is to first rapidly expand its business in China and then gradually increase the number of export destinations.
In addition, AdPartners’ portfolio includes Rowan, a developer of digital therapeutic devices for dementia; Dain Medical, a manufacturer of disposable endoscopes; Viewtel, a producer of needle-free blood glucose monitors; and FNCT Biotech, a developer of treatments for fibrosis.
