• Celaid Therapeutics

  Participated · Series B · Oct 2025

  Celaid Therapeutics is a university-spin-out leveraging proprietary technology to selectively expand human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) for therapeutic use. Its lead candidate, CLD-001, targets severe pediatric non-malignant blood disorders by using cord-blood–derived HSCs that are expanded to overcome donor-shortage and HLA-mismatch limitations. Recent pre-clinical studies have shown positive efficacy and safety data, while chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC) work and FDA pre-IND preparation are underway. Beyond its own pipeline, Celaid licenses its HSC expansion platform to pharmaceutical and biotech partners and is collaborating with AGC Inc. on iPSC-derived HSPCs. The company plans to use fresh capital to fund GMP manufacturing, U.S. IND-enabling studies, and platform expansion into broader cell and gene therapy programs. Including grants and subsidies, Celaid has raised a cumulative JPY 2.52 billion (USD 17.14 million) to date.

• FerroptoCure

  Participated · Grant · Sep 2025

  Founded in May 2022 and headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, FerroptoCure is a drug-discovery startup focused on controlling ferroptosis to create novel cancer treatments. Its lead candidate, FC-004, is advancing toward overseas clinical trials, while additional pipelines are progressing through non-clinical studies. The company plans to use its newly raised funds to finance these trials, strengthen its team for the next development phase, and lay the groundwork for global expansion. FerroptoCure’s approach builds on academic research from Keio University and related national R&D programs. Although the company has not disclosed revenue or patient metrics, it has secured meaningful institutional backing to support its R&D roadmap. The management team, led by CEO Yuji Otsuki, counts investors with deep life-science expertise among its supporters, positioning the company to accelerate development of ferroptosis-based therapies beyond oncology into cardiovascular and neurodegenerative indications. Including its recent Series A and accompanying government grant, FerroptoCure has raised approximately ¥960 million (about $6.5 million) to date.

• RevolKa

  Led · Grant · Jun 2025

  RevolKa develops aiProtein®, an AI-assisted directed evolution platform that predicts and optimizes protein sequences to create novel, highly functional proteins for therapeutic and industrial use. The platform is trained on sequence–function relationship data and can evolve multiple properties simultaneously. RevolKa reports that aiProtein® has produced successful outcomes with multiple partner companies. The company is applying the technology to rare disease drug discovery and development, efforts it previously announced on July 30, 2024. RevolKa joined a four-year research program funded by the Japanese Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) to accelerate these efforts. The company was founded in April 2021 and is headquartered in Sendai, Japan. RevolKa develops aiProtein®, an AI-assisted protein engineering platform that designs sequences to produce proteins with desired functions and can engineer multiple properties simultaneously. The platform targets both pharmaceutical and industrial applications and has produced successful outcomes in collaborations with partner companies. The company will use the ¥210 million JPY (US$1.4M) Series A extension to advance drug discovery programs for rare diseases and to support collaborative partnering efforts. RevolKa was founded in April 2021 and is headquartered in Sendai, Japan. Investors include D3 LLC, TOHOKU University Venture Partners, DEEPCORE Inc., and SBI Investment Co., Ltd. RevolKa positions aiProtein® to address the protein sequence-to-function relationship that remains unresolved despite advances like AlphaFold. RevolKa develops aiProtein®, an AI-assisted directed evolution platform that designs and evolves high-performance proteins beyond natural evolution. The company was founded in April 2021 and is headquartered in Tokyo with laboratories in Sendai. RevolKa announced the launch of a drug discovery program for rare diseases on July 30, 2024, and reports some drug candidates have achieved positive in vitro proof-of-concept. Its technology is positioned for both pharmaceutical and industrial uses and has produced successful collaborations with partner companies. Investors include Tohoku University Venture Partners and SBI Investment, with new participation from D3 LLC and DEEPCORE. The company says recent funding will accelerate its drug discovery and development activities.

• Shinobi Therapeutics

  Led · Grant · Aug 2024

  Shinobi Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing a new class of off-the-shelf immune-evasive iPSC-derived cell therapies. Its core product is an iPS-T cell therapy platform designed to work with the patient’s immune system, built on a decade of research by co-founders Tobias Deuse and Shin Kaneko. The company’s lead program targets GPC3+ solid tumor cancers. Shinobi secured a $59M non-dilutive grant from the Japanese Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) to support that lead program. It also announced an extension of its Series A round, bringing total funding to $119M and adding investors Yosemite and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital. Shinobi has partnerships with Panasonic for scaled manufacturing and Anocca for TCR discovery and development and is led by CEO Dan Kemp. Shinobi Therapeutics is a biotechnology company based in San Francisco, CA and Kyoto, Japan developing a new class of immune-evasive iPSC-derived T cell therapies. The company has created an allogeneic CD8αβ iPS-T cell platform called Katana that demonstrates comprehensive immune evasion from all arms of the immune system. Its approach is based on research by scientific co-founders Shin Kaneko, M.D., Ph.D., at Kyoto University and Tobias Deuse, M.D., at UCSF. Shinobi intends to use its newly raised funds to advance the Katana platform and progress its first program targeting GPC3+ solid tumor cancers toward the clinic. The company closed a $51M Series A financing to support those efforts. Shinobi is led by CEO Dan Kemp and focuses on developing off-the-shelf immune-evasive iPS-T cell therapies for solid tumors.

• Restore Vision

  Participated · Series A · Dec 2023

  Restore Vision is developing optogenetics-based gene therapies, notably its lead program RV-001 which introduces a proprietary light-sensor protein called Chimera Rhodopsin into retinal interneurons via AAV intravitreal injection. The approach targets retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa where photoreceptors have been lost. The company has completed first patient administration in a Phase I/II clinical trial of RV-001 at Keio University Hospital. Restore Vision plans to advance global clinical development of RV-001 and to pursue research and development of a second pipeline. Financially, the company has raised approximately ¥3.5 billion in equity to date and received about ¥2.1 billion in AMED grants, totaling roughly ¥5.8 billion in funding, with potential for an additional ¥4.5 billion through the AMED project.

No current team members are available.