Cullinan PearlSeries B → acquisition
Build-to-buy. Pearl became Taiho Oncology Pearl in 2023.
Small molecule · EGFR ex20ins
01 — Taiho Ventures
EST. 2016 · Tokyo + Menlo Park
We co-investwhen the scienceis right.
We're rarely the lead. We come into a round when the syndicate is already strong, and what we add is the part most cap tables don't have — a parent company that can make the molecule, run the trial, and sell it in Japan.
↓ keep reading01 / 06
02 — Decade in
Q1 2026 · 10 yrs · $400M committed
Ten years.Four hundred million.No rush.
Most of us came from the bench or the clinic. The mandate page should save you a meeting. The portfolio page should tell you whether we are a fit before we get on a call. We work that way because the science deserves it, and because we plan to be doing this in 2036.
03 — Mandate
What we look at.
Three filters. If a deal clears all three and the syndicate is already strong, we want to be on it.
The mandate page should save you a meeting.
A
Therapeutic area
- Oncology
- Immuno-oncology
- Allergy & immunology
- Urology
- CNS-adjacent
- Rare disease
B
Stage
- Seed → Series A
- Series B
- Series C+
- Crossover / pre-IPO
C
Modality
- Small molecule
- Antibody
- ADC
- Bispecific / multispecific
- mRNA / circRNA
- Cell therapy
D
Partnership type
- Co-invest alongside lead
- Build-to-buy
- Asia-bridge / commercialization
- Strategic risk-sharing
04 — Portfolio
Companies we are on the cap table of.
Selected. Full list lives on the portfolio page.
Arcus BiosciencesCrossover
Asia-commercialization bridge for the immuno-oncology pipeline.
Small molecule · A2aR / TIGIT
Orna TherapeuticsSeries B
Platform-validation play on circular RNA in oncology.
circRNA
Harpoon TherapeuticsSeries A → public
Strategic risk-sharing on TriTAC bispecifics through 2024 acquisition.
Bispecific · TriTAC
ORIC PharmaceuticalsSeries B → public
Resistance-mechanism oncology — second-line and beyond.
Small molecule · CYP11A1 / EZH2
Magnet BiomedicineSeries A
Molecular-glue platform — transcription-factor targeting.
Molecular glue
05 — Case study
Cullinan Pearl · 2017 → 2023
Plate 02 / 034:3 · doc stillAwaiting cinematographer.
- Initial check
- Series B
- Hold period
- 6 yrs
- Outcome
- Acquired by Taiho
- Therapeutic
- EGFR ex20ins NSCLC
"Pearl was the deal where build-to-buy stopped being a thesis and started being a playbook. We came in alongside the syndicate at Series B, watched the EGFR ex20ins data through pivotal, and the parent company acquired the Pearl entity in 2023. The syndicate got a clean exit. Patients got the molecule."
— Investment memo, internal — paraphrased.
Read the Cullinan story06 — Intake
Tell us about your round.
A structured intake gets to the right partner faster than a generic mailto. Four fields. We answer everything in five business days, including no.
Or email partners@taihoventures.com directly. We read it.