Astellas Venture Management LLC
Corporate VCSouth San Francisco · Seed–Growth · 12 people tracked
Investment thesis
AVM is a strategic corporate investor within Astellas that backs privately owned, early-stage biotechnology companies working on preclinical therapeutic programs and platform technologies for drug discovery and development. It prioritizes innovative therapeutic approaches aligned with Astellas Pharma's R&D strategy and treatments addressing unmet medical needs. Beyond capital, AVM offers a 'Pharma View' rooted in decades of pharmaceutical industry experience, sharing expertise to help portfolio companies grow and acting as a liaison to facilitate potential future collaborations with Astellas Pharma.
Source: firm website, verified Aug 3, 2026.
Team · 12 people
from the firm's website & public directories
What they invest in
from 24 of 49 portfolio companiesBiotech ×23Medical Devices ×10Healthtech ×8AI & Machine Learning ×4Deep Tech ×4Digital Health ×2Travel & Hospitality ×1Wellness & Fitness ×1
HQs:United States×8Japan×3United Kingdom×2
Investments · 49 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathBiotechBoston, US
David Southwell(Executive Officer, Director)Steve Kraus(Director)Campbell Murray(Director)Robert Crane(Executive Officer)Timothy Barberich(Director)
BoardLea Hachigian(Director)
Avilar develops protein degrader drugs targeting extracellular and membrane-bound proteins, using a novel class called ATACs that harness endolysosomal degradation machinery.
AI & Machine LearningBiotechMedical DevicesWaltham, US
THERESA CAMERON(Director)MARTIN FREED(Director)STEPHANIE TOZZO(Executive Officer)PHIL GRAHAM(Executive Officer)MILIND DESHPANDE(Director)DAVID NEAFUS(Executive Officer)
Casma Therapeutics develops therapies based on targeted autophagy, using its PHLYT (Phagosome-Lysosome Targeting) platform to initiate target-specific degradation of disease-causing cellular components regardless of size or complexity.
BiotechDeep Tech
Catamaran Bio develops allogeneic CAR-NK cell therapies for cancer treatment, focusing on solid tumors, by combining natural killer (NK) cell biology with synthetic biology and non-viral cell engineering.
BiotechHealthtech
Branden Moriarity(Scientific Co-founder)Catherine Bollard(Scientific Co-founder)
Cellular Intelligence develops cell therapy treatments, specifically acquiring STEM-PD, a Phase 2-ready therapy for Parkinson's disease.
AI & Machine LearningBiotechMedical Devices
Micha Breakstone(CEO & co-founder)Allon Klein(Scientific Co-founder)Olivier Pourquié(Scientific Co-founder)Cliff Tabin(Scientific Co-founder)Jay Shendure(Scientific Co-founder)
BiotechBurlingame, US
Mark Rolfe(Executive Officer)Peter Thompson(Director)Laura Shawver(Executive Officer, Director)Lewis Shuster(Director)Carol Gallagher(Director)Jonathan Root(Director)
eFFECTOR Therapeutics was a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company.
BiotechSolana Beach, US
Stephen F. Worland, Ph.D.(Executive Officer, Director)Alana McNulty(Executive Officer)Simeon George(Director)Ken Haas(Director)Laurence Lasky(Director)Markus Goebel(Director)
Heartseed develops cardiac regenerative medicine, creating heart muscle cells from iPS cells for transplantation to treat heart failure, with its lead pipeline HS-001 nearing clinical trials.
BiotechHealthtechMedical Devices
Keiichi Fukuda(代表取締役社長 (President & CEO))
Mogrify is a biotechnology company developing in vivo cellular reprogramming therapies, using its proprietary MOGRIFY and epiMOGRIFY platforms that apply transcriptomic and epigenetic data to identify transcription factor combinations for converting one cell type into another.
BiotechDeep TechHealthtech
Julian Gough(Co-founder)Owen Rackham(Co-founder)Jose Polo(Co-founder)Darrin M. Disley(CEO)Jane Osbourn(Chair)
Cambridge, US
Theodore Ashburn(Executive Officer, Director)Alon Lazarus(Director)Cameron Wheeler(Director)Christophe Queva(Executive Officer)
BoardBriggs Morrison(Director)Mitchell Finer(Executive Officer, Director)
Orna Therapeutics develops RNA and lipid nanoparticle (LNP) based therapies for treating diseases including oncology and cell therapy applications.
AI & Machine LearningBiotechMedical Devices
Joe Bolen(Chief Executive Officer)Joe Bolen, Ph.D.(Chief Executive Officer)Hope D'Oyley-Gay, JD(Chief Legal Officer)Ciaran Lawlor, Ph.D.(Chief Operating Officer)Frank Neumann, M.D., Ph.D.(Chief Medical Officer)Siva Sakhamuri(Chief Technology Officer)
Circular RNA-based cell engineering
Palland Tx is developing next-generation targeted protein degraders aimed at improving therapeutic efficacy through precision targeting.
Biotech
BiotechMt. Arlington, US
David Guyer(Director)Paul Chaney(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardAbbie Celniker(Director)Bruce Peacock(Director)
PhoreMost is a biotechnology company developing small molecule drugs and targeted protein degradation therapeutics for cancers with high unmet clinical need, with a lead program (PMC-001) for primary and metastatic brain cancers in Phase 1/2a clinical evaluation.
BiotechMedical DevicesCambridge, GB
ResNovas Therapeutics appears to be a therapeutics company, but the page provides no usable details about its products, technology, or market.
Biotech
Restore Vis is a life sciences company founded by a vitreoretinal surgeon and clinician scientist focused on addressing inflammation, aging, neurodegeneration and angiogenesis through translational research from drug discovery to clinical trials.
BiotechDigital HealthHealthtechMedical DevicesTokyo, JP
Dr. Rajendra S. Apte(Paul A. Cibis Distinguished Professor; Vice Chair of Innovation and Translation; Founder)
Shinobi develops next-generation cell therapies using iPSC (induced pluripotent stem cell) research, genetic engineering, and clinical infrastructure.
AI & Machine LearningBiotechHealthtechMedical Devices
Sidewinder Bio develops next-generation bispecific antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) designed to treat solid tumors with enhanced specificity for difficult-to-treat cancers.
BiotechMedical Devices
Antibody-intractable cell surface targets
Tizona Therapeutics develops first-in-class immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, translating scientific research into novel drug candidates.
BiotechHealthtech
BiotechCambridge, US
David Cordo(Executive Officer)Daniel Hicklin(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardLuke Evnin(Director)
Trishula Therapeutics develops cancer treatments that target immune evasion mechanisms in the tumor microenvironment.
BiotechHealthtech
mRNA/LNP based in vivo cell rejuvenation
Mountain View, US
Vittorio Sebastiano(Director)Marco Quarta(Director)Sergio Andres Ruiz-Chinchilla(Executive Officer)David Gobel(Director)Anja Krammer(Executive Officer, Director)Ric Peterson(Executive Officer)
Viamet provides informational and educational support for people planning medical travel, including help organizing questions about provider verification, care coordination, care navigation, documents, and wellness planning.
Digital HealthTravel & HospitalityWellness & Fitness
Targeted gene modulation with small molecule pharmacology
Toregem Biopharma is a Kyoto University spin-off developing a tooth-regeneration drug based on a humanized anti-USAG-1 antibody that aims to regrow teeth with a single injection.
BiotechDeep TechHealthtechMedical Devices京都 (Kyoto), JP
喜早 ほのか (Honoka Kihayashi)(代表取締役社長 (Representative Director and President))髙橋 克 (Katsu Takahashi)(取締役CTO (Director and CTO))髙谷 宗男 (Muneo Takaya)(取締役CBO (Director and CBO))喜早 ほのか(Co-founder & CEO (代表取締役社長))髙橋 克(Co-founder & CTO)髙谷 宗男(Co-founder & CBO)
Exits · 2
IPOs and acquisitions across the tracked portfolioBicycle Therapeutics LtdNASDAQ: BCYCTScan TherapeuticsNASDAQ: TCRX
Portfolio news
latest coverage across their companiesSidewinderbio · techcrunch.com · Jul 30, 2026
Syntax · bizjournals.com · Jun 23, 2026
Restore Vision · shionogi.com · Apr 15, 2026
Orna · news.crunchbase.com · Feb 18, 2026
Frequently asked questions
- What stage does Astellas Venture Management LLC invest at?
- Astellas Venture Management LLC invests at the Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, Growth stages.
- What is Astellas Venture Management LLC's typical check size?
- Astellas Venture Management LLC typically writes checks of $200K – $5M.
- What sectors does Astellas Venture Management LLC focus on?
- Astellas Venture Management LLC focuses on Biotech, Healthtech, IoT.
- Where is Astellas Venture Management LLC located?
- Astellas Venture Management LLC is headquartered in South San Francisco, US.
Images
Co-investors · 9
Insight Partners is a venture and growth-stage software investor featuring a large portfolio of technology companies across multiple sectors and regions.
Third Rock Ventures is a venture capital firm that discovers, launches, and builds life sciences and biotechnology companies developing novel medicines and therapies.
Alta Partners is a venture capital firm focused on the healthcare and life sciences sector, backing entrepreneurs building companies across biotechnology, therapeutics, and healthcare innovation.
Remiges Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on life sciences and drug discovery, backing biotech and therapeutics companies. It launched the RDiscovery Fund to incubate early-stage drug discovery projects.
The Column Group (TCG) is a venture capital firm focused on building and backing biotechnology companies, applying an edge-to-edge investment model centered on company formation with capacity for long-term private and public capital support.
Parkwalk Advisors is a UK-based investment manager focused on backing deeptech companies spun out of UK universities, bridging the gap between academic research and commercial success. It operates as part of IP Group plc and is a leading EIS fund manager.
4BIO Capital is a London-based venture capital firm investing in life sciences, with a focus on advanced therapies that address high unmet medical and social needs.
Sana Capital invests in growth-stage healthcare businesses at the intersection of services and technology, focusing on sustainable solutions that improve access, outcomes, and costs while promoting health equity in underserved communities.
Axil Capital is a venture capital firm spun out of Mizuho Securities in 2017 that invests across the biotech and healthcare technology spectrum, from seed to crossover stages, with a focus on building companies that create long-term impact on the medical community and society.
Firms observed investing alongside Astellas Venture Management LLC, from public investor directories. Shared companies are the overlap with Astellas Venture Management LLC's recorded portfolio.
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