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Sanigen, listed as No. 1 for food safety, aims to expand overseas

No. 9 2023.09.11 View 323

 

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Created Date 2023.5.23

Sanigen is pursuing listing as the ‘No. 1’ food safety company. Unlike the U.S. and Europe, the food safety industry is still unfamiliar in Korea, but as interest in this field has increased recently, it is evaluated to have great growth potential.

CEO Park Jeong-woong, a former food researcher at a large corporation, founded Sanigen in the mid-2000s, focusing on this possibility. Cenizen has a platform that allows customers to customize the bacteria they want based on the genome information they have acquired over a period of nearly 20 years.

The listing process was not all smooth. He took his first challenge by applying for a technology evaluation in 2020, but did not pass the evaluation gate at the time. However, using this as an opportunity to turn things around, the company is preparing to advance its business strategy and expand overseas based on its newly developed technology. We met CEO Park at Sanigen headquarters located in Anyang-si, Gyeonggi-do and heard about the IPO preparation process and future strategy.

◇Strength of ‘customized’ diagnosis based on genetic markers

Sanigen is a food safety company that is difficult to find in Korea. In the field of food safety, we aim to be a 'total solution provider' that provides everything from diagnosis to sterilization at once.
CEO Park Jeong-woong (pictured) decided to establish Cenizen based on his expertise in microorganisms. CEO Park, who graduated from Seoul National University's Department of Food and Biotechnology and received a master's and doctoral degree from the same graduate school, worked as a food researcher at CJ CheilJedang for about 10 years before starting his own business. While developing fermented foods such as red pepper paste and kimchi, he made a new decision while being dispatched to the company's food safety center.

CEO Park said, "I started thinking about food safety while working at the Food Safety Center from the beginning," and added, "I thought there was a high potential for growth as interest in safety grew, and I thought there were no strong competitors in the market."

After founding the company, he focused on specializing his research capabilities in the genetic field. Currently, among the approximately 100 employees, the proportion of R&D (research and development) personnel reaches 40%. We operate a total of three laboratories within the company, including a diagnostic laboratory, an analytical laboratory, and a sterilization laboratory.

Sanigen has secured over 5,000 genetic markers based on over 25,000 genetic information and a bank of approximately 15,000 strains. Through the genetic marker platform, dangerous bacteria are identified using gene amplification (PCR) methods. In 2019, a PCR product was launched under the brand name ‘Genelix’. Compared to the traditional badge method, the PCR method has high test accuracy and produces results quickly.

CEO Park said, “Because the test is conducted in a way that finds the unique genetic information contained in the bacteria, it is possible to custom-combine the bacteria for confirmation by the customer.” Currently, major customers include large food research institutes and government agencies.

Sanigen recently completed the development and commercialization of ‘GeNext’, which is based on next-generation genetic analysis technology (NGS). CEO Park explained, “While PCR can simultaneously diagnose four bacteria in one sample, NGS can find 16 types of bacteria in up to 384 samples.”

◇Expand NGS business by joining hands with global medical device companies

Although Sanigen holds numerous patents in the food safety industry, it failed to pass the technology evaluation during its first attempt at listing in 2020. CEO Park recalled, “Thanks to my experience at the time, I was able to develop a more systematic business strategy.”

Around this time, Jin-ho Choi, head of research center (CTO), who had experience working with CEO Park at CJ CheilJedang, was recruited to strengthen technology development capabilities. CTO Choi led the technical evaluation work for the second challenge. Sanigen received satisfactory results by receiving an A grade or higher from both professional evaluation agencies early this year. It has passed the first hurdle for technology special listing.

Last month, Senizen applied for a preliminary listing review to merge with KB No. 23 Pack of the underwriter, KB Securities. If all goes as planned, the merger will be completed at the end of September and listed on the KOSDAQ market in October.

The funds raised through the IPO will be used to expand overseas business. Representative Park said, “When per capita income exceeds $10,000, interest in food safety begins to grow,” adding, “We have already signed supply contracts with Japan and Singapore, which have high income levels, for products used for diagnostics, including PCR devices. “It is in progress and we are also discussing product supply with other Southeast Asian countries,” he emphasized.

Targeting the US and European markets with the latest technology. Sanigen has decided to supply NGS panels and software that interprets the results to a global medical device company that produces NGS equipment. CEO Park said, “We plan to invest funds in expanding overseas bases to grow NGS diagnostics in advanced markets.”

 

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