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Investment Profile of George Hara
Ambassador George Hara is well-known as a leading venture capitalist, specializing in the areas of technology and investing in the areas of healthcare and information technology. He is the founder, CEO and Chairman of DEFTA Partners and we have used his company as the basis of our investment research with a specific focus on medical and pharmaceutical-related investments. Such investments include in companies such as Orig3n, Two Pore Guys, Endogena Therapeutics, Graftworx and Lifeguard Health Networks. While specific financial information pertaining to each of these investments is very limited, we have endeavored to provide all publicly available data surrounding dates and amounts of these healthcare-related investments. Below we provide an overview of Ambassador George Hara's professional background, investments made by his founding company, DEFTA Partners, and specific details of investments in medical or pharmaceutical-related companies.
Professional Background
Ambassador George Hara is most notably known as a venture capitalist, specializing in archaeology and information technology. In 1984, Hara founded DEFTA Partners, a company for which he still serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman. Since this time, he has been actively involved in building alliances between America and Japan within the high technology and venture capital sectors. Information technology, in particular, has been an area of specialty for Hara, which has led to many investments in the areas of telecommunications, software and the Internet.
Japan
In 1985, he co-founded the Japan Incubation Capital in partnership with Softbank and from 1986 to 1987, Hara served as Adviser to the Japanese Governor of Osaka. He was also appointed as Adviser to Nippon Venture Capital Co., Ltd's Chairman, Senior Advisor to the Japanese Ministry of Finance (2005-2010), Special Commissioner on the Government Tax Panel for the Japanese Prime Minister and Adviser to Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
The US
In the 1990s, Hara was noted as one of the most prominent ICT venture capitalists in Silicone Valley and has led over 20 companies over his career. He was awarded the National Leadership Award in 2003 and was announced as an Honorary Co-Chairman of the US Republican Business Advisory Council.
Internationally
Since 2000, Hara has served as director and chairman of the board for a number of companies including Broadware, Opus Technologies, Pixera Corporation, Fortiet and Chemtrix. He has also been appointed director of the Japan Society of Northern California, the BRAC BDMail Network Ltd, Keizai Doyukai and Cangen Biotechnologies, Inc. He has previously served as director of the Hara Research Foundation, mimio, Inc, Actuate Corporation, PictureTel Corporation, Zoran Corporation, MeeVee, Inc, TRADEX Technologies, Inc. and Oren Semiconductor, Inc.
Hara was appointed Inter-Governmental Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary with the United Nations (2007-2009) and Permanent Observer Delegation with the UN Economic and Social Council. Furthermore, Hara is a Representative Ambassador of WAFUNIF and served as Special Advisor to the Republic of Zambia's President.
Medicine-related
Hara served as Chairman for Coyote Pharmaceuticals, Adviser to SALK Institute and Director with Cangen Biotechnologies, Inc. and Pixera Corporation. He is also a Professor of the Osaka University Medical School in Japan.
Investments
DEFTA Partners, of which Hara is the founder, CEO and Chairman, invest mainly within the healthcare and information technology sectors, with a focus on innovative technologies. More specifically, investments are made in companies developing health IT, advanced therapeutics and enabling technologies. Investments are made worldwide and focus mainly on the US, UK, Japanese and Israeli markets. Some investments are also made in companies within emerging countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Most investments made by DEFTA Partners are for the amounts in the range of $500,000 to $3 million.
Current investments include technology companies bracNet, Cloudfiling, Fortinet, tmsuk and 1World Online.
Medical & Pharmaceutical-related Investments
Investments made by DEFTA Partners within the healthcare, medical and/or pharmaceutical field include Orig3n, Two Pore Guys, Endogena Therapeutics, Graftworx and Lifeguard Health Networks.
Orig3n develops treatments for less-widely encountered genetically inherited diseases with a particular focus on liver, heart and neurodegenerative indications. Two rounds of investments have been made by DEFTA Partners, according to Owler. The first was an equity investment occurring June 27, 2017, and the second was a Series A investment on December 16, 2015. Both are listed as private, do not list an exit date and the investment amount is not publicly available. According to Orig3n's Owler profile, equity investments upwards of $20 million were received in 2017, with DEFTA Partners listed along with six other investors.
Two Pore Guys have developed a handheld Molecular Meter (MoM) capable of detecting and quantitating DNA and RNA data in an innovative and inexpensive way. Hara is listed on the Two Pore Guys website as a member of the advisory board, but no financial evidence of an investment is publicly available. Three funding rounds have been invested in the company since June 2016, but none make mention of DEFTA Partners.
Endogena Therapeutics
Endogena Therapeutics focuses on producing endogenous regenerative medicines that regenerate and repair human organs and tissues. DEFTA Partners identifies Endogena Therapeutics as one of their investments, which is confirmed on Endogena's official website but unfortunately, financial figures have not been made public.
GraftWorx is a medical technology company who manufactures an early-stage medical device providing an innovative solution to treat peripheral arterial disease. While DEFTA Partners lists Graftworx as part of their investment portfolio, there is no publicly available data to confirm this, with BioMaryland Center listed as Graftworx primary investor.
Lifeguard Health Networks provides remote care coordination and mobile health solutions for patients to manage their own health. Again, DEFTA Partners lists Lifeguard Health Networks as one company within their investment portfolio, but there is no publicly available data to confirm this. Two investors are listed on Crunchbase, contributing to two funding rounds in 2013 and 2015.
Conclusion
In closing, we have provided an overview of Ambassador George Hara's professional background, details of investments made by his company DEFTA Partners, and as much publicly available data as is possible, pertaining to medical-related investments made in Orig3n, Two Pore Guys, Endogena Therapeutics, Graftworx and Lifeguard Health Networks.