# James W. Young

> James W. Young is a Series B investor at 5AM Ventures (Menlo Park) backing Medical and Health Care. See 3 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [5AM Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/5am-ventures)
- Location: Menlo Park, United States
- Total investments: 3
- Last investment: Sep 2016
- Lead investor: 67%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-young-1bbb9019/

James W. Young is a Series B investor at 5AM Ventures in Menlo Park focused on Medical and Health Care. James W. Young, PhD joined 5AM Ventures in 2006 as a Venture Partner. James Young has been involved with Sunesis since 2000, as Chief Executive Officer, Executive Chairman and currently as Chairman. Prior to Sunesis, James Young was Senior Vice President, Research and Development and Group Vice President at ALZA Corporation. Before joining ALZA,James Young was President of the Pharmaceuticals Division of Affymax, N.V., and Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Pharmaceuticals Division at Sepracor. Previously, James Young was Vice President of Research at Zoecon/Sandoz Crop Protection Corporation. James Young served as Executive Chairman and then as a Director of Pearl until its acquisition by AstraZeneca.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Medical | 2 | 67% |
| Health Care | 1 | 33% |
| Therapeutics | 1 | 33% |
| Biotechnology | 1 | 33% |
| Medical Device | 1 | 33% |

6 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Series B | 2 | 67% |
| Series A | 1 | 33% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Chrono Therapeutics | Chrono Therapeutics (CHRONO) is a pharmaceutical company founded in 2004 with a vision of transforming disease and addiction management to become the market leader in programmable passive transdermal drug delivery (TDD) that offers real-time behavioral support. Chrono’s executive leadership combines years of professional experience and personalpassions for developing life-saving medical products. Steeped with years of experience in product development, science, R&D an understanding of the consumer smoking cessation market, FDA approval experience and bringing life-saving products to market, the team represents a wide-array of knowledge that combined can help address the serious epidemic of smoking. | $47.6M | Series B | Sep 08, 2016 |  |
| Portal Instruments | Portal Instruments is an early stage, Series A funded, medical device company in the area of digital drug delivery. We are developing and commercializing a highly innovative platform technology that will transform the delivery of medicines and improve the patient experience. Our aim is to replace all needles and syringes with a safe, silent,painless and smart device and to become the de-facto standard for modern drug delivery. Our patented technology enables the precise delivery of the exact amount of drug at the desired tissue depth irrespective of drug viscosity and composition. Our delivery mechanism is painless to the patient and silent. It is also highly customizable across a large variety of medical, animal, agricultural, and cosmetic applications. | $25M | Series B | Oct 20, 2015 |  |
| Chrono Therapeutics | Chrono Therapeutics (CHRONO) is a pharmaceutical company founded in 2004 with a vision of transforming disease and addiction management to become the market leader in programmable passive transdermal drug delivery (TDD) that offers real-time behavioral support. Chrono’s executive leadership combines years of professional experience and personalpassions for developing life-saving medical products. Steeped with years of experience in product development, science, R&D an understanding of the consumer smoking cessation market, FDA approval experience and bringing life-saving products to market, the team represents a wide-array of knowledge that combined can help address the serious epidemic of smoking. | $32M | Series A | Jun 12, 2014 |  |

3 of 3 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Canaan Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/canaan-partners) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Fountain Healthcare Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/fountain-healthcare-partners) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Mayo Clinic](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/mayoclinic) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Asahi Kasei](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/asahi-kasei) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Emergent Medical Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/emergent-medical-partners) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Endeavour Vision](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/endeavour-vision) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About 5AM Ventures

VC Fund · Menlo Park, United States

5AM Ventures is a venture capital firm that offers seed- and early-stage investments to its clients. The company’s client portfolio consists of firms in the biopharmaceutical, life sciences, medical technology, and research instrument industries. 5AM Ventures was founded in 2002 by John Diekman and Andrew Schwab and is based in California.

5 contacts available at 5AM Ventures.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kush Parmar | Managing Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kush-parmar |
| Scott Rocklage | Founding Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/scott-m-rocklage |
| Andrew Schwab | Managing Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/andrew-schwab |
| Deborah Palestrant | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/deborah-palestrant |
| James W. Young | Venture Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/james-w-young |

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## FAQ

### What does James W. Young invest in?

James W. Young invests primarily in Medical, Health Care and Therapeutics startups, most often at Series B and Series A stage. Most of the 3 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did James W. Young last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for James W. Young closed in Sep 2016. Shizune tracks 3 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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