Taiho Ventures, LLC — Menlo Park, CA

Taiho Ventures backs early-stage therapeutics — preclinical through proof of concept — in oncology, immunology, and urology.

Patient capital from a $400M fund and a hundred-year operating company.


§1 — Mandate
The fund

We invest preclinical through proof of concept. We co-lead. We rarely lead alone.

We invest at preclinical through proof of concept. We co-lead. We rarely lead alone. That is the point.

Capital is one input. The other inputs sit on the cap table beside it: a global pharmaceutical company that has read the data, agrees with the science, and intends to be useful for a decade.

Therapeutic areas
  • Oncology
  • Immunology
  • Urology
Stage
  • Preclinical
  • IND-enabling
  • Phase 1
  • Proof of Concept
Modality
  • Small Molecules
  • Biologics
  • Gene & Cell Therapy

§2 — Portfolio
Active companies

Twenty-three companies. Selected for science, not stage.

23 / 2016 — present

§3 — Approach
How we work

The cap table is the product.

We syndicate alongside funds that do this work full-time. We bring a different thing — a patient balance sheet, a development organization, and a path into Asia.

A round we co-lead is a round in which the conviction is shared. The portfolio is built that way on purpose.

Recent syndicate partners
ARCHGVRA CapitalMPM BioImpactPolarisSofinnova

§4 — Team
Investors

Five investors. All five operating in oncology drug development before they invested in it.

  • 01 · joined 2016

    Sakae Asanuma

    President & CEO

    CFA, MBA

  • 02 · joined 2016

    Seiji Miyahara

    Partner & Senior Investment Director

    Ph.D.

  • 03 · joined 2019

    Takaaki Ishii

    Senior Investment Director

    M.S.

  • 04 · joined 2022

    Hidefumi Kasuga

    Investment Director

    Ph.D.

  • 05 · joined 2024

    Takayuki Hirano

    Associate Investment Director

    Ph.D.

Portraits live one level deeper, with the bio. The team page is names and credentials.


§5 — Outreach
Founders, partners

Begin a conversation.

We read every memo. The fastest path is one page: stage, modality, therapeutic area, and what you would do with our capital.

Submit your thesis