The KIRIN HEALTH INNOVATION FUND invests in Cala Health, Inc., which treats essential tremor (hand trembling) with proprietary wearable device
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April 10, 2025
Kirin Holdings Company, Limited
TOKYO, April 10, 2025 – Kirin Holdings Company, Limited (Kirin Holdings) announced today that it has invested in Cala Health, Inc. (Cala Health) through the KIRIN HEALTH INNOVATION FUND, a corporate venture capital (CVC) fund established jointly with Global Brain Corporation (Global Brain), a leading independent venture capital firm.
Essential Tremor is a serious neurological disorder that makes daily living tasks such as eating difficult, and affects patients’ quality of life, including their mental health. Cala Health has developed a proprietary technology that measures a patient’s unique hand tremor and delivers individualized stimulation through the nerves on the wrist to the brain to counteract tremor, providing a safe, non-invasive, wearable device-based therapy*. Through its investment in Cala Health, Kirin Holdings diversifies its portfolio footprint in healthcare beyond traditional therapies into innovative and holistic/transformative approaches to treating neurological conditions.
The Kirin Group has formulated a long-term management concept, Kirin Group Vision 2027, and aims to “create value in areas ranging from food to medicine and become a leading global CSV*1 company.” To achieve this goal, in addition to our existing businesses in the Food & Beverages domain and the Pharmaceuticals domain (pharmaceuticals), we are further developing the Health Science domain, which will contribute to people’s health based on the advanced fermentation and biotechnology that the Kirin Group has cultivated over many years.
1 Abbreviation for Creating Shared Value: creating value that can be shared with customers and society.
* The subject device is not commercially available outside the US.
Indications for Use in the US: This device is indicated to aid in the temporary relief of hand tremors in the treated hand following stimulation in adults with essential tremor. This device is indicated to aid in the temporary relief of postural and kinetic hand tremor symptoms that impact some activities of daily living in the treated hand following stimulation in adults with Parkinson’s Disease.
Caution: Federal law restricts this device to sale by or on the order of a physician. Before use, refer to the product labeling for complete product instructions for use, contraindications, warnings, and precautions at CalaHealth.com/Safety.
About Cala Health
Cala Health is a bioelectronic medicine company transforming the standard of care for chronic disease. Cala Health's products are the only FDA-cleared, clinically validated noninvasive devices for the relief of hand tremors, allowing patients with essential tremor to return to the moments that matter. Coverage for the Cala System is available through the Veterans Affairs Health System and Medicare for eligible beneficiaries. Founded in 2013, the company is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area and backed by leading investors in both healthcare and technology.
About the CVC Fund “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.
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.
Company Overview
⑴About 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 |
| Assets under management | 5 billion yen |
| Investment period | 10 years |
| General partner | Global Brain Corporation |
⑵About Global Brain Corporation
| Company name | Global Brain Corporation |
|---|---|
| Head office | SHIBUYA AXSH, 2-17-1 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0002, JAPAN |
| Representative | Yasuhiko Yurimoto, President & CEO |
| Established | January 1998 |
| Primary business | Venture Capital |
| URL | https://globalbrains.com/ |
⑶About Cala Health
| Company name | Cala Health, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Head office | California, USA |
| Representative | Deanna Harshbarger, CEO |
| Established | June 2013 |
| Primary business | Development and marketing of wearable devices for non-invasive treatment of tremor symptoms |
| URL | https://calahealth.com/ |
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KIRIN HEALTH INNOVATION FUND