Image of Taiho Innovations president and managing partner Toshiyasu Shimomura courtesy of Taiho Pharmaceutical.
Taiho Innovations, the Japan-based corporate venture capital and incubation arm of pharmaceutical firm Taiho Pharmaceutical, has increased its capital from ¥1bn ($6.4m) to ¥5bn ($31.9m).
Launched in 2019, Taiho Innovations is led by president and managing partner Toshiyasu Shimomura (pictured). It targets domestic biotechnology and consumer healthcare startups from seed to series A stages, including those that have come through Japanese university accelerators and drug discovery platforms.
Startups that have come through Taiho Innovations’ incubation scheme include PRD Therapeutics, a metabolic disease therapy provider spun out of Kitasato University, and StapleBio, which uses staple nucleic acid technology developed at Kumamoto University.
Both PRD and StapleBio received further funding from Taiho and other VC investors. The latter is also backed by pharmaceuticals and chemicals group Summit Pharmaceuticals International.
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Japan-headquartered Taiho also runs a US-based CVC group called Taiho Ventures, which received $100m in additional capital in January this year, expanding its assets under management to $400m.
