Sakae Asanuma established Taiho Ventures as the founding President in 2016. Prior to joining Taiho, he was President and CEO at Astellas Venture Management and US Head of Astellas Innovation Management in 2011-2015. Prior to Astellas, he worked for Yasuda Enterprise, a Japan/US-based VC firm in 2000-2011. He has invested in more than 50 biotech companies since 2000 and majority of his portfolios achieved IPOs or M&AS. During his tenure at Taiho and Astellas, he led to executed dozens of research collaboration deals with academia and biotech ventures, including several build-to-buys or spin-outs.