At new­ly rechris­tened Rakuten Med­ical, Japan­ese bil­lion­aire Mik­i­tani ups the ante with an­oth­er megaround

Mick­ey Mik­i­tani made it clear, over the three years he’s backed the San Diego start­up As­pyr­i­an Ther­a­peu­tics, that he’s ready to bet a for­tune of his mas­sive wealth — es­ti­mat­ed at $6.7 bil­lion — on its pho­toim­munother­a­py tech. The e-tail bil­lion­aire got in­volved ear­ly in the $40 mil­lion Se­ries A, pro­vid­ed the li­on’s share for the sub­se­quent rounds to­tal­ing $284 mil­lion, took charge first as chair­man then as CEO, and grad­u­al­ly in­te­grat­ed the biotech’s brand en­tire­ly in­to his Rakuten em­pire.

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