Roman Vernidub, the CEO of Koru Pharma, came to South Korea as an exchange student and created a start-up company for fillers which generated revenue exceeding 3 billion won in only 7 years. He is now pursuing the development of a next generation technology for fillers and botox and is applying to list on KOSDAQ as a foreign start-up.
“While the local South Korean aesthetic companies were targeting China and North America as their main export markets, Koru Pharma began by exporting to Russia, Central Asia, Africa and other less explored markets, and it is currently selling its products in 90 countries worldwide.”
Roman Vernidub (photo), the CEO of Koru Pharma, met with Seoul Economic Daily on the 22nd, and introduced his company as “a ‘K-beauty’ company gaining popularity abroad”. The CEO Vernidub is receiving attention due to the performance of his start-up which has generated a revenue of 3 billion won in just 7 years. The performance of Koru Pharma on the foreign market is just as remarkable due to the fact that he created the start-up when he was an exchange student.
The CEO Vernidub said that “Koru Pharma had the capabilities to create a name for itself in Korea’s already crowded red ocean market and invested with confidence in pursuing business in less explored markets. He explained that “it was possible to expand Koru Pharma’s brand image and infrastructure by leveraging the technological benefits of its premium products “made in Korea” and receiving an export permit.”
The CEO Roman Vernidub, who was born in Russia, with Ukrainian descent, took an interest in Korean movies and Korean products during his school years and he came to South Korea as an exchange student in 2008. He received a masters and a doctoral degree in business and while helping one of his acquaintances with translation, he pursued creating his own start-up business. Seeing the popularity of the K-beauty trend in Russia and other countries, he created Koru Pharma together with his colleagues who were researching a technology for fillers, choosing to develop aesthetic products, which follow a more complex engineering technology compared to general cosmetics.
The CEO Vernidub said “Koru Pharma has achieved its status on the market by constantly attending beauty exhibitions and introducing its products, and it has secured its position on the market by creating products with the quality of American and European brands, offered at affordable prices” and emphasized that “the quick development of the products had increased the speed of Koru Pharma’s market entrance, especially with the sales of body fillers in Brazil, hair fillers in Africa, brightening treatments in Southeast Asia and the line of fillers Avalon, developed to meet the local characteristics of 40 different regions”.
The strengths of Koru Pharma are not only within its sales force. Last year the company built its own factory which can produce 3 million syringes, strengthening its research and development (R&D). It invested in transferring technology from Nexgel Biotech to develop a filler with no cross-linking agent at the end of last year.
The CEO said that “ after 3-4 years, there will be a next generation filler that will replace all of the existing hyaluronic acid fillers”, and pointed out that,“Koru Pharma will create a filler and botox package under its own brand name, in a collaboration with an influential local botulinum toxin manufacturer, and it is planning to start the sales of samples in its own business network within this year”.
About applying for South Korean citizenship last year
Vernidub applied for Korean citizenship last year. Now he is applying to list his company on KOSDAQ as a “Korean with blue eyes”. According to the CEO, “the company is submitting documents for preliminary examination for listing in the first half of the year and its goal is to become a part of the “top 5” local aesthetic companies which have succeeded on the foreign market by 2025.” He revealed his ambition to “share with the world the truth that South Korea is a good market to start a business and be a successful role model as a young and foreign businessman.”
Original article published on SE Daily
