1. Overview

With Japan opening back its border for travelers and businesspeople from 11th Oct, it is expected that the country’s economy will be boosted not only by tourism but also business opportunities. In addition to the Government’s policy to boost the startup ecosystem, it is not hard to imagine Japan will catch up to other major Startup-producing countries like China and the U.S.A within a few years.

We at Blackbox will be picking up emerging startups that you should be paying attention to in various industries. In this article, startups in Meditech which have completed Series-B funding will be the focus.

2. Emerging Biotech Startups

Metcela

Myocardial Infarction (a.k.a a heart attack) is a silent killer with its vague early symptoms and sudden onset. With the goal to develop and commercialize an effective and reasonably-priced therapy for heart failure, Metcela has succeeded in rejuvenating the microenvironment of a damaged heart, utilizing the patient’s own heart cells. With its secured $12.7 Million in Series B Financing Round, Metcela is anticipating the funding to be a booster in its clinical trial to fulfill its ambition on treating heart failure with an unorthodox method.

Ubie

Ubie understands how painful it is for patients to find the right medical institution for diagnosis and pharmaceutical companies for treatment. Hence, it came up with a solution: A medical data platform connecting all 3 parties using AI as its core technology. The service accelerates the medical interview process with high accuracy. With its 5 million monthly users worldwide, including in Japan and the U.S., Ubie to secured $26.2 Million in a Series-C funding round, allowing them to fuel business growth in Japan and the U.S. to build a medical data platform that connects patients, medical institutions, and pharmaceutical companies.

AI Medical Service Inc.

A.I technology breakthroughs have certainly accelerated the Meditech field, especially in the case with AI Medical Service Inc. (AIM).  AIM integrates AI technology in image analysis with their endoscopic system, allowing them to develop a software specializing in detecting potential stomach cancer. This has benefitted both patients and physicians in terms of accurate diagnosis and psychological burden. With its recent Series-C funding backed by the famous Softbank Vision Fund, AIM has a global coverage with subsidiaries in both Silicon Valley and Singapore. This has positioned AIM to be the next leader in the healthcare world in terms of cancer diagnosis.

Heartseed

The creation of iPS cells, cells that can differentiate into potentially any organ, has revolutionized how medical researchers approach problems in organ transplant and rejuvenation. However, it proses a problem: the differentiated cells are not 100% the target organ and require purification. This is where Heartseed steps in, with its novel purification method that ensures efficient engraftment of the transplanted cells to patients. Their mission is to change the world with regenerative medicine, starting from cardiovascular diseases with iPSC derived cardiomyocytes(heart cells).

Its Series-C funding is expected to accelerate the clinical trial stage, which will prompt groundbreaking development in the medical field upon success.

Craif Inc.

Cells - including cancer cells - release vacuoles called exosomes to communicate with other each other, with their contents possessing defining features of the cell releasing it. Capitalizing on this feature, Craif Inc. has devised a bio-marker detector that can quantify and identify the presence of cancer-related genes even in minuscule amount from exosome in urine, making it a highly-reliable diagnostic kit in early cancer stages. With its extended Series-B funding, it hopes to expand its service from cancer diagnosis to a wider application including genetic screening for not only medical institution, but also research centers.

3. Conclusion

Japan definitely has a very promising future in the Meditech field with these startups. Although it is also undeniable that the industrialization and commercialization in the medical field are still way behind countries like China and the U.S.A, Japan is hoping to create more business opportunities for their already-advanced medical research field with the help from new government policies, VCs, accelerators, and research centers to establish a more robust and dynamic startup ecosystem.

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