The Phage Raises 570 Million Yen for AI Glucose Model

The Phage has secured 570 million yen in a Series A first round financing. The company announced the capital raise on the ninth of the month, combining third-party allotment of shares with a loan facility. This funding round marks a significant step in the company's financial trajectory, providing the resources necessary to expand its technological capabilities and market reach.

The investment was led by Itochu Technology Ventures. New shareholders joining the company include Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance and Fukui Capital Partners. Existing investors Genesis Ventures and Vision Incubate, who led previous funding rounds, also made additional investments. The loan portion of the financing was provided by the Central Cooperative Bank. This diverse group of investors reflects broad confidence in the company's strategic direction and potential for growth in the health technology sector.

Concurrently, The Phage agreed to a capital and business alliance with Tokio Marine Holdings. The Tokio Marine group, including Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance, will explore the commercialization and deployment of healthcare solutions. These solutions focus on preventing the worsening of lifestyle-related diseases. This partnership aims to integrate the company's technology into broader insurance and health management frameworks, creating a new avenue for value creation.

The company's core technology is the CGFM, an AI model that learns from large-scale continuous glucose data. It acquires individual glucose fluctuation patterns as a single foundation. The Phage expects this foundation to handle multiple tasks with one model, including predicting future glucose changes, classifying metabolic types, and assessing health risks. This multi-task capability is a key differentiator in the field of metabolic health analytics.

In a pilot study based on a cooperation agreement with Fukui Prefecture, 4,165 adults at risk of diabetes wore glucose sensors for two weeks. Data from 3,881 participants was analyzed. Approximately one in four participants recorded post-meal glucose levels above 200 mg/dL twice or more. Around 70 percent of participants reported improvements in dietary or lifestyle habits. Based on these findings, the company has begun offering glucose management programs to corporate health insurance plans and local governments.

The raised funds will be used to expand the Glucose Flight service domestically and internationally. This service evaluates meal content from glucose fluctuations to support daily meal management. It also aims to accelerate the research and development of the CGFM. Glucose Flight visualizes user lifestyle data to facilitate information sharing with medical professionals. Currently, it is provided only to select hospitals, clinics, and research participants. The company aims to establish a platform for pre-disease management. The Phage stated it has entered a phase of large-scale, routine commercial operation of AI, aligning with the government's offensive preventive healthcare goals. BRIDGE reported the story.