Investing in the future of medicine.
Bioluminescence Ventures is a US biotechnology venture capital firm headquartered in San Francisco.
Our team invests in companies with transformational platform technologies that are developing first-in-class or best-in-class therapeutics programs.
- Breakthrough Biology
- Drug Discovery Platforms
- Genetic Medicines Platforms
- Computational Biology Platforms
Purpose
Bioluminescence Ventures was conceptualized to finance breakthrough platforms and support mission-driven leaders to develop first-in-class or best-in-class therapies for patients with major unmet medical needs.
We believe that this is especially critical at a time when we are simultaneously experiencing both a golden age of biomedical innovation and the most difficult financing environment in over a decade.
Bioluminescence is light emitted by living beings. It is a metaphor for our guiding light: patient impact. We see this light radiating from our mission-driven founders and CEOs. We aim to support them with our time, energy, interdisciplinary expertise, capital, and commitment over the long run.
We aim to make their light shine brighter.
People
Passionate about biomedical innovations.
Kouki Harasaki, PhD, MBA
Kouki Harasaki is the Founding / Managing Partner at Bioluminescence Ventures.
Dr. Harasaki has over 20 years of biomedical science experience working across major health systems, research institutes, biopharmaceutical corporations, technology companies, and venture capital firms. Prior to founding Bioluminescence Ventures, he was Managing Director at M12 / Microsoft Ventures, where he led Life Sciences investments and helped develop Microsoft corporate strategy in the field. Before M12, Dr. Harasaki was a senior Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (Bio Fund).
Prior to his time in venture, Dr. Harasaki held Drug Discovery, Animal Pharmacology, Strategy, Finance, and Business Development roles at Novartis AG and Baxalta/Shire. He has led over $600M in financing deals that have funded more than 25 therapeutics programs across stages (discovery to marketed), across therapeutic areas (CVM, Immunology, Oncology, Neuro/CNS), and across modalities (small molecules, biologics, genome editors, cell therapies). He earned a BA in Molecular/Cell Biology from Cornell University, a PhD in Clinical Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge (Wellcome Trust Fellow), and an MBA from Harvard Business School (Robert S. Kaplan Fellow).
- PhD, Clinical Biochemistry, University of Cambridge (Wellcome Trust Fellow)
- MBA, Harvard Business School (Robert S. Kaplan Fellow)
- BA, Molecular & Cellular Biology, Cornell University