AAA Taiho Ventures lifts fund to $400m

Taiho Ventures lifts fund to $400m

A drug developer in a lab. Image courtesy of Taiho Pharmaceutical.
A drug developer in a lab. Image courtesy of Taiho Pharmaceutical.
A drug developer in a lab. Image courtesy of Taiho Pharmaceutical.

Japanese pharmaceutical firm Taiho has injected an additional $100m into its corporate venturing arm, Taiho Ventures.

Formed in 2016, Taiho Ventures focuses on drug discovery and oncology therapy developers globally. It has 25 active portfolio companies including cancer drug producers Arcus Biosciences, Cullinan Pearl and Dren Bio.

The latest boost takes Taiho Ventures’ overall capital under management to $400m. Sakae Asanuma, president and chief executive of the unit, leads the five-person team based in California, US.

In addition to Taiho Ventures, the firm runs another CVC subsidiary called Taiho Innovations in Japan led by president and managing partner Toshiyasu Shimomura. The sister unit also focuses on cancer therapy and consumer healthcare startups but solely targets domestic entrepreneurs.

By Edison Fu

Edison Fu is a reporter and Asia liaison at Global Corporate Venturing.