01.
01.
Oncology, immunology, urology.
The therapeutic areas Taiho Pharmaceutical has commercialized in for sixty years. We invest where our parent has clinical, regulatory, and commercial muscle — not where the deck looks good.
Taiho Ventures · est. 2016
The corporate venture arm of Taiho Pharmaceutical, investing in early-stage biotech across the Pacific.
A $400M fund deploying into oncology, immunology, and platform biology. We invest where our parent has clinical, regulatory, and commercial standing — and where the founders want a Japanese pharmaceutical company on the cap table ten years from now.
- Capital under management
- $400M
- Active positions
- 23
- Menlo Park
- est. 2016
- Taiho Pharma R&D
- 60 yrs
Plate 02 — section break — hero into mandate, pending
§
About
A syndicate position, taken seriously.
In 2016, a four-person team in Menlo Park began deploying capital from Taiho Pharmaceutical’s first venture fund. The syndicates they joined were already crowded — seed and Series A rounds for early-stage oncology assets routinely included ARCH, GV, MPM, Pfizer Ventures.
What Taiho added was something the founders had not been asking for, and the lead VCs had not been able to offer: the credibility of a $400M Japanese specialty pharmaceutical company on the cap table. Ten years later, that has turned out to be harder to find than money.
02.
02.
Series A and B. Sometimes earlier.
Most rounds close on a term sheet. A few close on a thesis about who the founder wants on the cap table ten years from now. We are usually in the second category, and often the third or fourth name on the wire.
03.
03.
Taiho on the cap table, not just on the masthead.
Joint diligence with Taiho Pharmaceutical on clinical-stage investments. The result is a Series A or B board with American venture firms and a Japanese pharmaceutical company in the same room, before the round closes.
§
Investment
A specific filter, applied for ten years.
Taiho Ventures invests where Taiho Pharmaceutical has clinical, regulatory, and commercial standing — oncology first, immunology and orphan indications second, platforms and modalities where they extend the pipeline. The filter has not changed since 2016. The names on the cap table have.
Sectors
- Drug discovery — first-in-class or new biology
- Innovative platform technologies for drug discovery
- Spin-out opportunities from Taiho pipelines
- Medical device, diagnostics, digital health (opportunistic)
Therapeutic areas
- Oncology
- Non-oncology (immunology, allergy, bone, muscle, orphan)
Modality
- Small molecules
- Biologics
- Gene and cell therapy
Stage
- Research to pre-IND
- IND to PoC (opportunistic)
Portfolio
Twenty-three positions, ten years.
A subset of active and exited names across oncology, immunology, and platform biology. The full register sits in the annual letter; we do not publish every position. Logos belong to the companies — Taiho Ventures sits on the cap table.
Active and exited positions. Logos remain the property of the named companies.
Read a case in brief →The Partners
Who is on the cap table is who answers the email.
Five partners. Three came across from Taiho Pharmaceutical’s R&D bench before joining the fund; the founder ran Astellas’s US venture arm and a decade at Yasuda Enterprise before that. The names below are who reads the round.
Plate 05 / 094:5 · Ocean+Earth duotone portraitPortrait pending
Sakae Asanuma CFA, MBA
President & CEO
Plate 06 / 094:5 · Ocean+Earth duotone portraitPortrait pending
Seiji Miyahara PhD
Partner & Senior Investment Director
Plate 07 / 094:5 · Ocean+Earth duotone portraitPortrait pending
Takaaki Ishii
Senior Investment Director
Plate 08 / 094:5 · Ocean+Earth duotone portraitPortrait pending
Hidefumi Kasuga PhD
Investment Director
Plate 09 / 094:5 · Ocean+Earth duotone portraitPortrait pending
Takayuki Hirano PhD
Associate Investment Director
Plate 03 — section break — slow ocean stroke (kasure tail), pending
Ten Years
2016 — 2026.
Ten years of cap-table positions, syndicates joined, partnerships brokered, founders who took our call when no other Japanese investor was returning theirs. We are not interested in self-coronation. We are interested in the next ten.
— Tim Wakeling, Managing Partner
Menlo Park, May 2026
- Total committed
- $400M
- Active positions
- 23
- Realized exits
- 6
- Syndicate co-investors
- 38
Contact
Begin an outreach.
We read every note. Tell us what you are building, who is leading the round, and where Taiho would sit on the cap table.
partners@taihoventures.comResponse time48 hours, Pacific. Sooner if a round is closing.
Menlo Park
2420 Sand Hill RoadSuite 203Menlo Park, CA 94025-6940