Honda, an angel investor since 2016 and one of six players in history to have scored or assisted in three consecutive FIFA World Cups, joins the board as the urine microRNA cancer screening company builds a US organization.

Craif Inc., the Tokyo company behind the miSignal urine cancer risk test, has appointed the investor and professional footballer Keisuke Honda as an outside director, the designation under Japan's Companies Act for a board member who is not an executive or an employee of the company. Honda founded X&KSK, a venture capital firm that manages a fund of approximately 15.4 billion yen and invests under the stated mission of producing Japan's first decacorn company. Craif said the appointment is intended to strengthen its management for fast growth in its Japan business and for expansion outside Japan.

Craif was founded in 2018 as a venture spun out of Nagoya University and works toward a vision it states as a society in which people live out their full natural lifespans, through early detection of disease and better choice of treatment. The company moved early on the practical application of microRNA, which became the subject of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and developed technology that uses AI to analyze microRNA in urine. That technology powers miSignal Scan, a urine cancer risk test available in Japan that is designed to detect risk of hard-to-treat cancers, including pancreatic and lung cancer, at a very early stage.

In April 2024, Craif began a clinical trial aimed at obtaining Japanese marketing approval, under Japan's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Act, for a medical device program, intended for pancreatic cancer diagnosis.

Why Craif added Honda to the board

Craif is setting up a research and development site in the United States and standing up a business development organization, working toward FDA approval, with US insurance coverage as the goal. Bringing Honda's international experience and global network into its management is intended to accelerate growth in the cancer testing business, including the early pancreatic cancer detection technology, and to speed up expansion outside Japan.

About X&KSK

X&KSK is a venture capital firm founded by Keisuke Honda, who is active as a professional footballer. It manages a fund of approximately 15.4 billion yen and invests mainly in Series A startups, under the mission of producing Japan's first decacorn company. The firm invests across a wide range of sectors, with most investments between 100 million and 1 billion yen, and supports the growth of startups founded in Japan and of businesses run by Japanese founders. X&KSK draws on Honda's influence and global network inside and outside Japan to help portfolio companies expand overseas and raise money from overseas venture capital firms, with the aim of growing them into decacorn companies.

About Keisuke Honda

Honda is a professional footballer and coach, an angel investor and an entrepreneur, and he became the sixth player in history to score or assist in three consecutive FIFA World Cups. In venture investing, he set up KSK Angel Fund in 2016 to manage his personal assets, and in 2018 he co-founded Dreamers Fund with the actor Will Smith. In 2024 he founded X&KSK under the mission of producing Japan's first decacorn company.

Keisuke Honda, Outside Director, Craif

"Since I first met Ryuichi Onose last year, I have watched from close up his drive, his willingness to take on hard problems, and the speed at which this business has grown. Craif is facing the difficult problem of early cancer detection head on and trying to change society with technology that did not exist before, and I see real potential in what the company is doing. I am very glad to be getting more deeply involved in that effort now as an outside director. I intend to stay alongside the company with everything I have and to push its growth and its global expansion forward. Let us open up a new future together."

Ryuichi Onose, Representative Director and CEO, Craif

"Under our vision of a society in which people live out their full natural lifespans, we have brought Keisuke Honda onto our board as an outside director to strengthen our management further. Honda is someone who is not bound by existing frames and who keeps setting a high bar and taking on real challenges. Craif is now in a phase of solving a problem for society on the basis of new technology and competing on the world stage. Together with Honda, we intend to grow Craif into a company that operates worldwide. Through early detection of cancer, we will help bring fundamental reform to cancer care and greatly reduce the number of deaths from cancer."

About the miSignal series

The miSignal series is a set of cancer risk tests aimed at prevention and early detection. It consists of miSignal Scan, which assesses cancer risk with microRNA and AI; miSignal Light, a simpler assessment of cancer risk; miSignal Navi, genetic testing focused on cancer; and miSignal Check, which monitors DNA damage as a route to prevention. Every test in the series needs only a urine or saliva sample, so there is no physical burden on the person tested. Taken together, the four tests are meant to let a person learn their own constitutional risk and monitor day to day DNA damage in support of prevention, and to catch early any cancer that prevention does not stop.

Disclaimer. The miSignal series is not a medical device. It judges risk by statistically calculating analyzed information. It does not replace a diagnosis, as a medical act, of whether a person has cancer, and a result of low risk does not mean that a person is free of cancer or will not develop cancer in the future.

About Craif

Craif is a venture company spun out of Nagoya University and founded in 2018. It holds a core technology called NANO IP® (NANO Intelligence Platform), which detects microRNA and other disease-related biological substances with high accuracy from body fluids that are easy to collect, such as urine. Craif uses NANO IP® to develop tests that support early detection of cancer and care tailored to each person. Working toward a world in which pancreatic cancer is routinely found early, the company also launched the Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Project powered by miSignal and promotes awareness of cancer through it.

Company details

• Company name: Craif Inc.
• Representative: Ryuichi Onose, Representative Director
• Founded: May 2018
• Business: research and development of next-generation testing toward early detection of disease, centered on cancer, and toward personalized care, and provision of the miSignal urine cancer risk test
• Headquarters: ITP Hongo Office 5F, 2-25-7 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo

URL: https://craif.com/