Best Life Sciences Companies in Kyoto, Japan
The 31 best Life Sciences companies in Kyoto, Japan in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: Megakaryo.
Our analysis of 576 Life Sciences companies
$91.7b in tracked funding; 70% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2025.
Ranked: Best Life Sciences companies in Kyoto
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Founder | Founded | Tech stack | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Megakaryo Developer of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) for mass production of platelet products | $66M | 80 mo ago | Series D | — | 2011 | NginxMicrosoft 365jQuery+2 | — | — |
| 2 | Physiometrix Range of products for Electrodiagnostic Neurological monitoring | $31M | 275 mo ago | Acquired | — | 1993 | — | — | — |
| 3 | Regenfro Co Developer of therapeutics to treat renal diseases | $29M | 25 mo ago | Series B | Kenji Osafune Founder | 2019 | WordPressMySQLPHP+9 | — | — |
| 4 | Orizuru Therapeutics Developer of stem-cell-derived organoid models for drug discovery | $22M | 32 mo ago | Series B | Kenji Nonaka CEO | 2021 | WordPressApple iCloud MailMicrosoft 365+12 | 98 patents Patents concentrated in chemistry & materials | — |
| 5 | Thyas Developer of induced pluripotent stem cells technology to treat cancer | $18M | 56 mo ago | Series B | — | 2015 | — | 39 patents iPSC-derived engineered T‑cell production and cell‑bank platforms for immunotherapy | — |
| 6 | Time Therapeutics Developer of therapeutics for neurological disorders | $13M | 28 mo ago | Series B | Toshifumi Watanabe CEO & President | 2019 | — | — | — |
| 7 | GlyTech Provider of human-type asparagine (Asp)-linked glycans for research applications | $9M | 58 mo ago | Series B | Hiroaki Asai CEO | 2012 | — | 342 patents Peptide ocular therapeutics, protein solubilization, engineered antibodies, KRAS targeting, protein catalysts | — |
| 8 | Link Therapeutics Developer of therapeutics for gastroenteric diseases | $6M | 15 mo ago | Series B | Yoshiko Abe Co-Founder & CEO | 2022 | lit-htmllit-elementClosure Library+3 | 4 patents Immunotherapy targeting B‑cell antigens and autoimmune disease treatment platforms | — |
| 9 | iHeart Experts in regenerative medicine | $5M | 14 mo ago | Series D | — | 2013 | NginxGoogle Font APISakura Internet+3 | — | — |
| 10 | Myoridge Specializes in cell line development | $1M | 115 mo ago | Seed | Shinichi Sueda Co-Founder | 2016 | — | 25 patents Manufacturing and assay of stem-cell-derived cardiomyocytes and related serum-free culture technologies | — |
| 11 | Elcyo Manufacturer of liquid crystal lenses and variable power glasses | $467K | 36 mo ago | Seed | Sunri Lee CEO | 2019 | Node.jsEnvoyNginx+11 | 10 patents Integrated liquid‑crystal display technology for smart eyeglasses and optical components | — |
Top 12 Life Sciences companies in Kyoto
#1
Series D · Kyoto, Kyoto · founded 2013 · 10 employees$5.4Mraised▾
iHeart focuses on developing regenerative medicinal products from iPSC cells for heart diseases which would replace transplantation in case of heart failures. The technology the company uses developed by Prof. Jun K Yamashita of Center for iPS cell Research and Application (CiRA) of Kyoto University.
- Sep 2025Series D$5.4M
- Jul 2021Series C—
- Sep 2014Seed—
#2
Series B · Kyoto, Kyoto · founded 2022$5.7Mraised▾
Developer of therapeutics for gastroenteric diseases. It offers auto-antibodies against integrin αvβ6 for the treatment of ulcerative colitis.
- Jul 2025Series B$5.7M
- Feb 2023Series A—
#3
Series B · Kyoto, Kyoto · founded 2019$28.9Mraised▾
Developer of therapeutics to treat renal diseases. The company has developed stem cell-based regenerative therapeutic products such as patent-pending nephron progenitor cells for renal cells, patented erythropoietin-producing cells for renal anemia, and urethroplasty for the development of kidney organoids.
- Oct 2024Series B$16.8M
- Jan 2022Series A$12.1M
#4
Series B · Kyoto, Kyoto · founded 2019$12.8Mraised▾
Developer of therapeutics for neurological disorders. It offers iPS cell-based therapies which include TTM-002 for the treatment of tauopathy, and TTM-001 for familial Alzheimer's disease.
- Jun 2024Series B$12.8M
- Jan 2022Series A$7.8M
- Jan 2021Seed$595K
- Jun 2018Seed$2.4M
#5
Series B · Kyoto, Kyoto · founded 2021 · 60 employees$21.9Mraised▾
Developer of stem-cell-derived organoid models for drug discovery. The company has developed products such as regenerative medicine by cell transplantation and IPS-derived tissue models for drug discovery. It has developed iPS cell-derived cardiomyocytes for cardiac drug discovery and iPS cell-derived islet cells (iPIC) which applies to cell therapy for diabetes.
- Feb 2024Series B$21.9M
#6
Series D · Kyoto, Kyoto · founded 2011 · 11 employees$66Mraised▾
Megakaryon develops and commercializes the technology to produce and store platelets and red blood cells from iPS cell lines. The cell lines are used to develop blood products that can be supplied in a stable manner. The products can be used for blood transfusion and lower the dependence on blood donations. The company claims that it has obtained a patent for mass production of platelets from iPS cells.
- Feb 2020Series D$25.5M
- Dec 2017Series C$32.9M
- Mar 2015Series B$21.2M
- Aug 2013Series A$11.8M
#7
Series B · Kyoto, Kyoto · founded 2015 · 4 employees$18.2Mraised▾
Thyas is involved in developing iPSC technology to treat cancer. They have developed autologous adoptive immunotherapy with induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC)-derived killer T cells. Their technology helps to convert the exhausted killer T immune cells to stem cells to produce new T cells which target cancer and other chronic infections.
- Feb 2022Series B$18.2M
#8
Series B · Kyoto, Kyoto · founded 2012 · 6 employees$9.1Mraised▾
Provider of human-type asparagine (Asp)-linked glycans for research applications. The company is focused on the application of glycan production and chemical glycosylation technologies to the development of medicines such as biopharmaceuticals and oligonucleotide therapeutics.
- Jan 2022Series B—
- May 2018Series A$9.1M
#9
Acquired · Kyoto, Kyoto · founded 1993 · 45 employees$30.7Mraised▾
Range of products for Electrodiagnostic Neurological monitoring. The company's product line is based on proprietary gel materials, signal-processing electronics technologies, and software for neuro-monitoring applications during surgical and diagnostic procedures.
- Dec 2003Post IPO$8.2M
- Mar 2000Post IPO$22.5M
#10
Seed · Kyoto, Kyoto · founded 2019$467.4Kraised▾
Manufacturer of liquid crystal lenses and variable power glasses. The company is developing lenses that are equipped with a perspective adjustment functions for patients to solve vision problems caused by eye diseases.
- Oct 2023Seed$467.4K
#11
Seed · Kyoto, Kyoto · founded 2016$1.1Mraised▾
Myoridge engages in providing solutions to the life science and research community. The company induces differentiation from iPS cells into cardiomyocytes with stability using novel compounds. They also have their own proprietary cell freezing technology which raises the survival rate of thawed cardiomyocytes. It can be used in several new drug discovery tools and other areas.
- Apr 2017Seed$1.1M
#12
Series A · Kyoto, Kyoto · founded 2020 · 9 employees—raised▾
Developer of RNA-targeting small molecules for untreatable diseases. The company develop a proprietary screening pipeline to find RNA-targeting small molecules utilizing a combination of massively parallel biochemical analysis systems and in silico analysis.
- Jan 2025Series A—
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Life Sciences coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
How research on Biotechnology in Kyoto is moving
A read on the academic research around Biotechnology in Kyoto — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 75 papers.
- Kyoto University65
- Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine5
- Kyoto Pharmaceutical University3
- Kyoto Institute of Technology3
- Kyoto Medical Center3
- Gene1→4
- Gene3
- Transcriptome3
- Transgene2
- Microvesicles2
- Exosome2
- Mesothelial Cell1
- Cytotoxicity1
- In vivo1
- Biophysics1
- In vitro1
Common questions
Rohit lives in the feed. He covers what's moving right now — the funding rounds, launches and shifts breaking across the trade press — and ties them back to where the sector is heading.