How many investments has DEFTA Partners made?

DEFTA Partners has 13 tracked investments, including 1 dated in the last 24 months.

What stage does DEFTA Partners invest at?

DEFTA Partners invests at the Seed, Series A stages.

Where is DEFTA Partners located?

DEFTA Partners is headquartered in San Francisco, US.

Who does DEFTA Partners co-invest with?

DEFTA Partners most often shares deals with 3B Future Health Fund, Adjuvo, IrishAngels, among 5 tracked co-investors.

DEFTA Partners

Venture capital

San Francisco · Seed–Series A · 5 people tracked

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Find your way into DEFTA Partners

467 people in our graph share verified history with the DEFTA Partners team — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Aydin Senkutunlockedknows Masa Isono · together at Boston University (overlapped)

×7knows the team · via emlyon business school

×4knows the team · via Questrom School of Business, Boston University

✨ Fox Verdict

Investment thesis

DEFTA Partners invests in early-stage technology companies with a focus on healthcare and information and communication technology (ICT). In healthcare, it backs advanced therapeutics, health ICT, and enabling technologies with a vision of helping people live healthily to the end of life. Its ICT thesis follows a 'pervasive ubiquitous communications' model spanning embedded devices, digital TV, and online security. The firm invests globally, having funded more than 100 companies across the U.S., U.K., Israel, Bangladesh, and Japan, and emphasizes hands-on support to help portfolio companies scale internationally, including sustainable growth initiatives in developing markets.

Invests inBiotech Cybersecurity Data & Infrastructure Deep Tech Digital Health Enterprise Software Hardware Healthtech IoT Medical Devices SaaS Bangladesh Global Israel Japan San Francisco United Kingdom United States

Source: firm website, verified Aug 3, 2026.

Stage

Seed–Series A

San Francisco, California, US

Instruments

Equity

Founded

1985

Last 12 months

1 investment

Tracked investments

Team · 5 people

from the firm's website & public directories

George Hara· Founder· Tokyo, Tokyo, Japanin

George Hara founded DEFTA Partners after building a fiber optics display startup while a Stanford graduate student in 1981. He has funded and led numerous early-stage technology companies in the US, Europe, and Israel, and has held senior advisory roles within the Japanese government.

Kyoko Watanabe· Managing Director· San Francisco, Californiain

Kyoko Watanabe is Managing Director at DEFTA Partners, a venture capital firm investing in early-stage technology and healthcare companies across the US, Japan, and Israel. With over 20 years of venture capital experience, she oversees fund operations and has worked with more than 50 portfolio companies, leveraging prior experience at Go Corporation and in Silicon Valley to advise portfolio companies on expansion into Japan. Watanabe serves on the boards of the San Francisco-Osaka sister city association and the Alliance Forum Foundation, a nonprofit focused on technology innovation in developing countries.

k•••@deftapartners.comreveal

Masa Isono· Principal· San Francisco Bay Areain

Masa Isono is a Principal at DEFTA PARTNERS with 16 years of experience in early-stage venture capital investment across information and communication technology and biotech startups in Silicon Valley, Israel, Japan, and Bangladesh. His work has spanned deal evaluation, structuring, negotiation, and business development, and he has served as interim CEO for portfolio companies, leading business planning, fundraising, and management recruiting in the US and Japan. He has also been involved in cross-border business development across the Pacific Rim, including projects in Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and Bangladesh.

m•••@deftapartners.comreveal

Satoshi Tsubotani· General Manager of Business Development, DEFTA Capital

Takeo Sako· Deputy General Manager of Business Development, DEFTA Capital

What they invest in

from 5 of 13 portfolio companies

Healthtech ×4Medical Devices ×3AI & Machine Learning ×2Digital Health ×2Biotech ×1Cloud Computing ×1Cybersecurity ×1GovTech ×1

HQs:United States×3United Kingdom×1

Investments · 13 tracked

founders shown can be your intro path

By year:2025 · 1 2021 · 1 2020 · 1 2019 · 25 dated

Abilitech Medicalabilitechmedical.com

HealthtechSt. Paul, US

Angeline Conley(Executive Officer, Director)Aaron Fletcher(Director)inDonald Santel(Director)Steve Seme(Executive Officer)

Co-investorsIrishAngels

Actuateactuate.ai in 𝕏

Actuate provides AI-based video analytics that turn existing IP cameras and NVRs into a security detection system, offering real-time alerts for threats such as intruders, loitering, guns, and crowds.

AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingCybersecurityGovTechSaaS

Sonny Tai(Co-Founder)inKen Francis(CEO)in

Co-investorsBling Capital Dorm Room Gray Line Partners MetaProp MetaProp Ventures Scribble Ventures +3 more

Aegle Therapeuticsaegletherapeutics.comDec 2025

Aegle Therapeutics develops therapies using extracellular vesicles (EVs) isolated from mesenchymal stem cells to deliver therapeutic biomolecules to diseased and damaged cells.

BiotechHealthtechMedical DevicesWoburn, US

Shelley A. Hartman(Co-founder & CEO)inEvangelos V. Badiavas(Founder & Chief Scientific Officer)Heidi Kempinski(Chief Operational Officer)inKathleen Murphy(Head of Clinical Operations)Robert Williamson, Jr.(Executive Officer, Director)Robert Ryan(Director)

Co-investorsNew World Angels Ocean Azul Partners DeepWork Capital DEFTA HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGIES

Endogenaendogena.comSeries A · Jan 2021 · $8M

InformAIinformai.com in 𝕏Seed · Jun 2020 · $1.8M

InformAI develops AI-guided clinical solutions for oncology and diagnostic imaging to improve patient treatment outcomes.

AI & Machine LearningDigital HealthHealthtechMedical DevicesHouston, US

Co-investorsJoyance Partners Social Starts

QuantuMDxquantumdx.com in 𝕏

QuantuMDx develops point-of-care molecular diagnostics platforms and assays for detecting infectious diseases including sexually transmitted infections, antimicrobial resistance, respiratory viruses, and other pathogens.

Digital HealthHealthtechMedical DevicesNewcastle upon Tyne, GB

Elaine Warburton(Co-Founder and former CEO)

Co-investors3B Future Health Fund Adjuvo

savonixsavonix.comSeries A · Apr 2019 · $10M

Co-investorsRethink Impact

Other

Tracked investments with no reachable website or further public details — typically companies that wound down, renamed, or were absorbed.

Arris PharmaceuticalsBioEclipse TherapeuticsbracNetIsis PharmaceuticalsOnteraViagene

Portfolio news

latest coverage across their companies

Actuate Therapeutics posts Q2 loss, advances elraglusib | ACTU Quarterly Report (10-Q)

Actuate · stocktitan.net · Aug 14, 2026

Frequently asked questions

How many investments has DEFTA Partners made?: DEFTA Partners has 13 tracked investments, including 1 dated in the last 24 months.
What stage does DEFTA Partners invest at?: DEFTA Partners invests at the Seed, Series A stages.
What sectors does DEFTA Partners focus on?: DEFTA Partners focuses on Biotech, Cybersecurity, Data & Infrastructure, Deep Tech, Digital Health, Enterprise Software, Hardware, Healthtech, IoT, Medical Devices, SaaS.
Where is DEFTA Partners located?: DEFTA Partners is headquartered in San Francisco, US.
Who does DEFTA Partners co-invest with?: DEFTA Partners most often shares deals with 3B Future Health Fund, Adjuvo, IrishAngels, among 5 tracked co-investors.

Co-investors · 4

Rethink Impact

Rethink Impact is a venture capital firm that backs leaders using technology to address major global challenges, focused on mission-driven companies aiming to benefit all communities.

Both backed · 1

savonix

$2M – $10M

Fusion

Fusion Fund is an early-stage venture capital firm backing startups with technical or data advantages in healthcare, enterprise AI, and industrial technology.

$500K – $1M

Presight Capital

Presight Capital is the international venture fund of entrepreneur Christian Angermayer, operating as a registered investment adviser that can invest across public and private markets with checks from $500K to $100M+ throughout a company's entire lifecycle from seed to post-IPO. The fund is backed by prominent hedge fund managers and billionaire angels rather than traditional institutional investors, and focuses heavily on controversial frontier science like psychedelics, brain-computer interfaces, and life extension alongside transformative infrastructure bets in undercapitalized global markets.

$500K – $20M

JP Morgan Chase

JPMorganChase is a global banking and financial services company serving customers, clients, and communities across more than 100 global markets.

Firms observed investing alongside DEFTA Partners, from public investor directories. Shared companies are the overlap with DEFTA Partners's recorded portfolio.

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