Craif Inc. (Location: Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Ryuichi Onose, hereinafter referred to as “Craif”) announced today to issue new shares to Saisei Ventures, Hakuhodo DY Ventures Ltd., KIRIN HEALTH INNOVATION FUND, NOBUNAGA Capital Village Co., Ltd. through third-party allotment. With this allotment, extended series B funding, enforced in November 2021, will be concluded. 

■ Background and Purpose of this Funding
　Craif is a startup company founded in 2018. “NANO IP™ (NANO Intelligence Platform),” enables highly accurate detection of biological material such as microRNAs, related to diseases by using non-invasively collected bodily fluids, like urine. With this innovative platform, Craif is dedicated to developing screening tests using NANO IP™ to achieve early detection of cancer and provide the best medicine for everybody.

■Third-Party Allotment Subscriber
<New Investors>
Saisei Ventures
(Location: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Managing Partner: Jonathan Yeh)
Hakuhodo DY Ventures Ltd.
(Location: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President and CEO: Akihiko Tokuhisa)
KIRIN HEALTH INNOVATION FUND
(KIRIN and GB Investment Limited Partnership)
(Location: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President: Yasuhiko Yurimoto)
NOBUNAGA Capital Village Co., Ltd.
(Location: Gifu-shi, Gifu, Representative Director: Kiyotaka Toge)

■ Comments from Investors / Background of participating in this funding
Jonathan Yeh, Managing Partner, Saisei Ventures 
　The future of medicine will be the combination of advanced therapeutics alongside highly informative diagnostics for monitoring of treatment performance and disease progression. miRNA signatures have shown promise as clinically relevant biomarkers but their adoption has been hindered by an inability to capture and analyze at a level and reproducibility needed for clinical meaningfulness. Craif’s revolutionary technology platform is well positioned to address this problem and lead to breakthroughs in early disease screening, stratification, and monitoring. As a US-Japan focused healthcare fund, Saisei Ventures is proud to support the Craif team in capturing value in all their business verticals.

Nosuke Urushiyama, Partner, HAKUHODO DY FUTURE DESIGN FUND (Hakuhodo DY Ventures Ltd.)
　Craif’s distinctive technology, which can detect early stage cancer at high accuracy using a non-invasive approach, will be highly beneficial to society given that it enables the extension of healthy life expectancy. We look forward to working with wonderful team members at Craif, who are sincerely working with various stakeholders. With our Sei-katsu-sha insight and creativity, Hakuhodo DY Ventures will challenge to spread Craif’s wonderful technology to all over the world.

Toru Ishikura, Executive Officer, General Manager, Health Science Division, Kirin Holdings Company, Limited.
　We expect that Craif’s destinctive technology, which enables highly accurate measurement of urinary miRNA, can be applied not only to cancer tests but also to various areas in the future. Furthermore, it has a strong affinity with Kirin’s Health Science domain which has a vision of being a “healthy and happy lifestyle partner for 100-year-life.” We will stay close to Craif’s vision, and support its growth by spreading its technical possibility to the world. 

Ota Masaki, Chief, Investment Department, NOBUNAGA Capital Village Co.
　NOBUNAGA Capital Village participated in this funding not only because we sympathize with Craif’s vision of “Ensuring Lifelong Health for Everyone,” but also because as a company aiming to expand globally from a local area, we hope to grow together with Craif. We would like to support Craif’s service development in the Tokai region in order to realize “social implementation of cancer testing” while making the best use of Juroku Financial Group’s resources.