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xFOREST Announces Closing of Seed Funding Round 

xFOREST Therapeutics (Headquarter: Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan; Representative Director, President and CEO: Shunichi Kashida; Representative Director and CTO: Kaoru R. Komatsu; hereinafter, xFOREST) today announces that it has successfully closed its Seed funding round from ANRI (Japanese venture capital firm) and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited.

xFOREST develops platform “FOREST technologies” for RNA structure targeted drug development. With the funding, xFOREST aims to promote the development of information analysis platforms for FOREST technologies.

In order to meet the growing demand for this field of drug discovery, xFOREST will continue to promote business partnerships with domestic and overseas pharmaceutical companies.

Comment from Yusuke Miyazaki, Principal of ANRI

“With recent technological and scientific advancements in RNA biology, the drug industry is highly keen to develop drugs targeting RNA. In this era, we, ANRI, are excited with xFOREST’s proprietary technology “FOREST” - RNA-Structure targeting Drug Discovery Technologies-.  Also, believe its technologies would be critical solutions for the RNA-targeted drug arena. Furthermore, the founders are one of the most intelligent and creative brilliant scientist-entrepreneurs we have met. We are incredibly excited to work closely with the xFOREST team to bring a highly impactful drug to patients ultimately.”

About ANRI

ANRI is a leading seed/early stage-focused investment firm based in Tokyo, Japan. ANRI is committed to helping exceptional founders build their next major companies. The firm invests in a wide range of disruptive ideas and technologies from consumer service to biotechnology. Founded in 2012, ANRI has funded more than 100 companies including hey, Mirrativ, LayerX, 10X and more. For more information, please visit http://anri.vc/