Yi Shi, managing director of Lilly Asia Ventures, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2025 Powerlist.
With a fund nearing half a billion dollars, Lilly Asia Ventures, the venture capital fund spun out of pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, is one of the more active players in the healthcare VC scene in the region. It backs startups targeting biopharmaceutical, medical devices, human therapeutics and diagnostic technologies across Asia and North America, investing out of offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Palo Alto.
Yi Shi has been leading Lilly Asia Ventures since the fund was founded in 2008. Today, the team comprises more than 50 people with a range of experience from science, medicine, investment and operations. Before leading the venture team, Shi worked at Eli Lilly in a number of roles including marketing, operations, business development licensing and corporate strategy.
Yi Shi has been leading Lilly Asia Ventures since the fund was founded in 2008.
His current and former board appointments include drug developer Betta Pharmaceuticals, monoclonal antibody company Innovent Biologics, oncology companies Chipscreen Biosciences and Transcenta, as well as viral infection and cancer drug developer Ansun Biopharma, antibody therapy company Elpiscience, and small molecule cancer drug developer Terns Pharmaceuticals.
The unit has made a number of investments this year and led a number of them. These include participation in rounds for atrial fibrillation treatment startup Enchanel, medical equipment manufacturer Heyuan Medical Devices, RNA therapeutics platform provider Rona Therapeutics, and pulmonary and hypertension medical device startup Pulnovo Medicals.
Describing its investment philosophy, Shi says, “We bet on people. We are highly selective, but when we find entrepreneurs with a unique combination of ambition, experience, leadership and integrity, we support them with the long-term capital they need to succeed. Where needed, we provide significant value by helping make strategic decisions, recruit executives, secure industry contacts and explore business development opportunities. We also bet on products. We constantly ask, ‘what will be the industry’s best-selling products five to 10 years from now?’ And we seek out or build companies with such products.”
The Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.
