AN Venture Partners raises $200M in first biotech fund to back innovative startups and advance Japan’s 2030 biotech goals.

Global biotech venture capital firm AN Venture Partners announced the successful final closing of its inaugural fund, AN Venture Partners I, LP, having raised $200 million. One of the biggest biotech venture capital funds with a focus on Japan to date, this fund is also among the best first-time biotech venture capital funds raised in the past 12 months.

The fund has over 20 Limited Partners, with the top five being Japan Finance Corporation, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., MUFG Bank, Shionogi & Co., and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. ANV will make investments in biotechnology and biotech-related enterprises from pre-proof-of-concept to the advanced clinical phases, either from academic institutions, large pharmaceutical subsidiaries, or a mixture of these sources.

Every modality and disease category that has the potential to make a major clinical impact is of interest to the fund. Although it can make investments worldwide, ANV will concentrate on science that comes from Japan. In light of the existing Japanese environment, ANV frequently plays a proactive role in company formation and collaborates closely with the founders to establish multinational biotech businesses.

Capital Bio, City Therapeutics, Typewriter Therapeutics, and Imbria Pharmaceuticals are among the seven companies in which the company has invested thus far. City Therapeutics successfully closed a significant series “A” round and formed significant strategic alliances with significant global pharmaceutical corporations. 

Typewriter Therapeutics has been granted access to funding to accelerate its development after being chosen by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development as a participant in the Strengthening Program for Pharmaceutical Startup Ecosystem. Three more businesses are presently operating in stealth mode.