AN Venture Partners (ANV), a global biotech venture capital fund, today announced the addition of Atsushi Shimada and Shiho Hirose, PhD.
At ANV, Mr. Shimada is joining as a Senior Principal and will work on deal sourcing and company formation and provide support to the firm’s portfolio companies. Dr Hirose is joining as an Analyst responsible for analyzing and evaluating the bio-related technologies of the potential portfolio companies.
ANV has been established by a group of experienced venture capitalists from Japan and the United States, who have a wealth of experience in founding and growing start-ups. It will primarily focus on sourcing innovative scientific research from Japan and building global biotech companies. The two new members join ANV Partner Takashi Futami, PhD based in Tokyo, Japan.
“I am delighted to welcome our new colleagues,” said Dr. Futami. “Atsushi has long and highly relevant experience in finding and evaluating promising university research and will help us source ideas that we can turn into valuable startups. Meanwhile, Shiho brings much-needed analytical horsepower to our young team and will build out our knowledge in the oncology field.”
"I am thrilled to be joining a dynamic VC firm with a genuinely novel approach to building Japan’s biotech ecosystem,” said Mr. Shimada. “What ANV is doing is important for Japan, and in my professional experience taking Japanese research to create companies in the US has enormous potential.”
“Joining ANV is a great opportunity for me,” said Dr. Hirose. “After doing academic research both in Japan and the US and then working for a Japanese pharma group, I am looking forward to gaining experience at the ‘sharp end’ of the industry by working for a VC firm.”
