BBV Founder Spotlight: Hyo Min Park — Genedit
The BBV Founder Spotlight is a series of posts highlighting founders from our portfolio companies and the incredible work they are pursuing to solve challenges in critical industries such as health and climate through technology innovation.
Thank you Hyo Min Park for taking the time.
Contributor Irfan Vissandjee
Tell us about your company. What defines your innovation?
GenEdit is a rapidly-growing, early-stage company that is leading the development of a proprietary and novel delivery platform with the potential to transform genetic medicine. GenEdit fosters an exciting and dynamic environment where we value impactful data and creative solutions to accelerate our progression from building a platform to building a pipeline of therapeutic candidates.
Where did your company’s name come from?
As simple as the combination of Gene and Editing.
What was the motivation behind starting your company?
I always had a dream of starting a business, and the decisive reason was people and technology to start with. Also, the timing of starting GenEdit was perfect.
What role did the University play in the formation of your company or technology?
Most importantly, the technology that was the foundation of the company is based on the knowledge we learned in school. Company was also able to get a lot of resources through the start-up program provided by the school.
How did you meet your co-founder? How long did it take?
We entered graduate school in the same year. We first met at the UC Berkeley biology conference.
How is the firm different today than when you first started?
Very different in most aspects. The development of technology is the most significant. Company was started with 2 founders but now we have 17 FTE in the team.
How has the fundraising process been for the company?
We successfully closed series A last October. We raised total ~$34M.
What aspects of BBV’s coaching and support was the most helpful?
As an inexperienced founder, the advice I received from BBV in my early days was equal to none. I was looking forward to my weekly meetings and I was able to learn by sharing many stories. BBV listened, trusted, and were honest with the founders.
What’s ahead for your company in 2021?
I am looking forward to a lot of excitement in 2021. The most important part will be the technology development and new team members.
What lasting impact do you want to leave with your company?
I want people to believe that science advances by good people with imagination
Describe your firm’s culture in 5 words or less.
Innovation, trust, communication, challenge
