Sakae Asanuma

Mr. Sakae Asanuma established Taiho Ventures as the founding President in 2016. Prior to this position, he was President and CEO at Astellas Venture Management and U.S. Head of Astellas Innovation Management from 2011–2015. Before joining Astellas, he worked for Yasuda Enterprise, a Japan/US-based VC firm from 2000–2011. He has invested in more than 50 biotech companies since 2000 and majority of which achieved IPOs or M&As. During his tenure at Taiho and Astellas, Mr. Asanuma closed dozens of research collaborations with academia and biotech ventures, including several build-to-buy or spin-out deals.