Japan-based medical supplies vendor Medipal Holdings has partnered SBI Investment, an investment subsidiary of financial services firm SBI Holdings, to form a ¥10bn ($92m) corporate venture capital (CVC) vehicle.
Medipal Innovation Fund is intended to operate for 10 years and will mainly target domestic and international startups developing technologies strategically relevant to Medipal’s business lines.
Founded in 1898, Medipal runs group companies in areas including pharmaceuticals, orphan drug discovery, medical and beauty care, and animal health products.
The company has already conducted some corporate venturing deals, backing May and December 2019 rounds for liver transplant therapy developer Promethera Biosciences.
Medipal also helped incubate biotechnology company Scohia Pharma with peer Takeda Pharmaceutical and public-private partnership Innovation Network Corporation of Japan two years before.
SBI Investment will oversee Medipal Innovation Fund’s investment activities. It already manages multiple CVC funds on behalf of 11 corporations including DIP, Fuso, House Group, Intage, Mitsui Mining & Smelting, Nikon, Subaru, Sumitomo Life and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.
