Japan's WiL joins $27m round for health platform Micin
Japan-US cross-border investor World Innovation Lab (WiL) has joined a JPY 4bn (USD 27.3m) Series C round for Tokyo-based telemedicine and health platform Micin.
WiL is investing via its second fund, which closed on USD 521m in 2018. Fund III closed on USD 1bn last year. The firm specialises in helping Japanese start-ups break into the US, although Micin has not specified as plans to this effect.
The round otherwise features MTG Ventures, the corporate venture arm of wellness and beauty products company MTG, as well as pharmaceuticals-focused Toho Holdings, and healthcare conglomerate Alfresa. It also includes debt financing from Aozora Corporate Investment and brings total funding since the company’s inception in 2015 to JPY 10bn.
Micin’s core brand is a telemedicine service called Curon, which includes a phone and video-operated drug delivery service called Curon Medication Support. In this sense, the offering is a home healthcare play on Japan’s ageing trend. The vision statement is “For all to live out their lives with dignity and reach the end of their lives in peace.”
The company is named after the medical artificial intelligence-based bacteria analysis and doctor consulting system, Mycin, which was developed in the 1970s at Stanford University. The idea is to combine Mycin with modern medical data science. In addition to remote healthcare, there are operations in digital therapeutics, decentralised clinical trials, and short-term insurance.
More on North Asia
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.