［Health Science domain］
The KIRIN HEALTH INNOVATION FUND Invests in WRAY, Inc.
Explore initiatives to solve women's health issues
- Other
August 24, 2022
Kirin Holdings Company, Limited
TOKYO, August 24, 2022 - The KIRIN HEALTH INNOVATION FUND, a corporate venture capital (CVC)*１fund founded by Kirin Holdings Company, Limited (Kirin Holdings) and Global Brain Corporation, a leading independent venture capital firm, has invested in WRAY, Inc.(WRAY).
1: The practice of an operating company investing its corporate funds directly in an external startup company aligned with its business lines, intended to establish a mutually beneficial relationship or launch a new business by leveraging the latter’s assets.
WRAY's vision and mission is to address the wellness of women, who are vulnerable to the effects of hormonal imbalance at various stages of their lives, and to create a world in which women can achieve their true potential. The WRAY brand has established a unique position in the women's healthcare market in Japan as a wellness brand that is close to women, providing information that helps working women focus on their own health and developing products and services that enable easy self-care. Through this investment, Kirin Holdings will explore initiatives to solve women's health issues together with WRAY, while leveraging the Kirin Group's knowledge of health science.
About WRAY, Inc.
WRAY is a start-up company that focuses on the effects of hormonal balance and menstrual cycles on women's health care, and is developing a variety of self-care products and a menstrual cycle tracking service on line under the brand name "WRAY". WRAY develops and sells beauty care products, health foods, apparel, delicate-zone soaps, and other products that address women's concerns that may not be readily apparent. WRAY has earned the trust of working women in their 20s to 40s by its brand appeal as a "wellness brand that caters to women" and its unique product development capabilities that no other company has. In addition to expanding its product lineup, WRAY plans to launch an online community and offer a wide range of wellness programs.
Purpose of Establishing the KIRIN HEALTH INNOVATION FUND
Through the KIRIN HEALTH INNOVATION FUND, Kirin Holdings intends to invest in startups around the globe that have innovative technologies and business models for resolving health issues, and to leverage their advanced health science technologies and solutions for improving customer experience. By combining the Kirin Group’s wealth of assets and competence in health science with innovations and technologies that startups will bring to partnerships, Kirin Holdings will be better able to bolster its existing Food & Beverages domain as well as step up efforts to launch new businesses in its Health Science domain.
Supplementary Information
(1) About the KIRIN HEALTH INNOVATION FUND
| Fund name | KIRIN HEALTH INNOVATION FUND (registered as KIRIN and GB Investment Limited Partnership) |
|---|---|
| Primary sector for investment | Startups around the globe operating in the health science domain |
| Established | March 2020 |
| AUM | 5 billion yen |
| Investment period | 10 years |
| General partner | Global Brain Corporation |
(2) About Global Brain
| Company name | Global Brain Corporation |
|---|---|
| Head office | 10-11 Sakuragaokacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan |
| President | Yasuhiko Yurimoto |
| Established | January 1998 |
| Primary business | Venture capital business |
| URL | https://globalbrains.com/en |
(3) Outline of WRAY, Inc.
| Company Name | WRAY, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Location | Tokyo, Japan |
| Representative | Yukiko Taniuchi |
| Establishment | April 2020 |
| Business | Development of beauty and self-care D2C brands for women that focus on women's hormonal cycles |
| URL | https://wray.jp/ |
About Kirin Holdings
Kirin Holdings Company, Limited is an international company that operates in the Food & Beverages domain (Food & Beverages businesses), Pharmaceuticals domain (Pharmaceuticals businesses), and Health Science domain (Health Science business), both in Japan and across the globe.
Kirin Holdings can trace its roots to Japan Brewery which was established in 1885. Japan Brewery became Kirin Brewery in 1907. Since then, the company expanded its business with fermentation and biotechnology as its core technologies, and entered the pharmaceutical business in the 1980s, all of which continue to be global growth centers. In 2007, Kirin Holdings was established as a pure holding company and is currently focusing on boosting its Health Science domain.
Under the Kirin Group Vision 2027 (KV 2027), a long-term management plan launched in 2019, the Kirin Group aims to become “A global leader in CSV*, creating value across our world of Food & Beverages to Pharmaceuticals.” Going forward, the Kirin Group will continue to leverage its strengths to create both social and economic value through its businesses, with the aim of achieving sustainable growth in corporate value.
* Creating Shared Value: combined added value for consumers as well as for society at large.