ieumBio Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as ieumBio), a faculty startup at UNIST, has been awarded first place and the ‘W-Creator Award‘ at the 2025 W-Venture Startup Competition.
Founded by Research Professor Yumi Kim of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, the company was recognized for its high-impact commercialization of laboratory-developed innovations in the field of anti-aging and healthspan extension.
The W-Venture Startup Competition, organized by the Small Enterprise and Market Service (SEMAS), aims to foster the growth of women entrepreneurs across Korea. As part of this award, ieumBio received a prize of KRW 2.5 million.
Since its founding in 2024, ieumBio has quickly gained recognition for its innovative approach and technological potential. The company was selected for the 2024 TIPS (Tech Incubator Program for Startup) Program and subsequently for the 2025 Startup Support Program, funded by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) of Korea. It also secured support through the U-Bio Digital Healthcare Industry Global Support Program, further validating its technological capabilities. Notably, its anti-aging platform and commercialization prospects have been officially acknowledged.
At the core of ieumBio’s innovation is the ‘KilliSpan Platform,’ which utilizes the turquoise killifish—a rapidly aging vertebrate model—to swiftly evaluate candidate compounds related to anti-aging and healthspan enhancement. This platform addresses the limitations of traditional animal testing by significantly reducing the time and costs associated with discovering and validating logevity-promoting substances. It enables researchers to efficiently assess compounds that could extend healthspan, the period of life spent in good health.
Professor Kim remarked, “This award recognizes the value of ieumBio’s mission to improve healthspan through cutting-edge research and innovative platform development. Moving forward, we aim to accelerate anti-aging studies, using the Kilispan platform and collaborate with globally with researchers and companies to deliver effective healthspan solutions.”
Since its inception, ieumBio has rapidly expanded its research collaborations, signing over 13 partnership agreements with institutions, including Konkuk University Medical Center, Seoul National University, Inha University, and the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO). Current research efforts focus on ribosome-based mechanisms of muscle aging, screening for healthspan-related compounds, and molecular mechanism validation.
Youngsik Kim, Director of the UNIST Office of Industry–University Cooperation, stated, “This achievement demonstrates that university-based startups can effectively progress from research to validation phases. Given ieumBio’s proven competitiveness through external evaluations, we will continue to strengthen support for technology-driven entrepreneurship to foster a vibrant ecosystem of innovative startups.”
Now in its second year, the W-Venture Startup Competition aims to invigorate women-led technological startups in the Busan–Ulsan–Gyeongnam region and promote job creation. ieumBio’s victory underscores the promising growth potential of lab-based women entrepreneurs and their contributions to Korea’s innovation landscape.
