Metagen Therapeutics adds $1.3M in Series B extension from Japanese university funds
What's the deal? Metagen Therapeutics, a Japanese startup developing medicine based on gut microbiome research, has raised 199,962,954 JPY (about $1.3 million) in the first close of a Series B extension round. Two university-linked funds — Hokkaido UniversityDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → Green Frontier Fund No.1 and Tokai Research and Development No.1 — backed the round. The company's total funding now stands at 6.84 billion JPY.
What's the endgame? Based in Tsuruoka, Yamagata, Metagen aims to bring faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) to patients with intractable diseases and cancer. It has treatments in development for ulcerative colitis, digestive cancers, and Parkinson's disease.
Why now? In May 2026, the company began Phase 1/2 clinical trials in Japan and the US for an oral FMT drug targeting ulcerative colitis. Its earlier antibiotic-combined FMT therapy for the same condition reached a 45.9% remission rate in advanced medical trials, with no serious adverse events reported.
What's the money for? Proceeds will advance clinical development of its lead drug candidate MGT-006 and other FMT therapies, plus optimise its supply chain for sourcing donor stool. Metagen runs Japan's first stool donation facility, the "Tsuruoka Stool Donation Room," to secure raw material for its drugs.
What's notable? The two funds are tied to Hokkaido University and Nagoya UniversityDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → — both institutions where chief executive officer Taku Nakahara studied. "By coincidence, I received investment simultaneously from funds linked to the universities I graduated from, which makes me very happy," Nakahara said (translated from Japanese).
The signal: Japan's academic venture funds are increasingly channelling capital into biotech spun out of university research. Metagen, itself a venture born from Juntendo, Keio, and Tokyo Science universities, illustrates how these ties link laboratory science to commercial drug development.
Image credit: Metagen Therapeutics
