Ashkan Eliasy, investment principal at Topcon Healthcare, is one of our top 50 Rising Stars in corporate venturing for 2026.
Ashkan Eliasy’s most compelling accomplishment has addressed a well-known challenge in corporate venture capital – slow and complex decision making. Operating in Topcon Healthcare, a Japanese company owned by KKR, he navigates investment approvals across US-based investment committees and Japan-based steering committees.
Understanding the need to maintain momentum, despite corporate complexity, Eliasy designed and implemented a pre-seed investment programme that enabled early-stage investments with more streamlined oversight, condensing the process to just a few weeks.
As a former startup founder, working with entrepreneurs is a highlight of Eliasy’s role. Having co-founded two companies, Ocuwell and Caena, he understands founders’ ambitions, challenges and drive to build something meaningful.
“Seeing teams grow, capital deployed thoughtfully and ideas turn into progress are what makes the work rewarding.”
As a corporate venture capitalist, he views this perspective through a strategic lens –striving to help founders refine their market positioning, align with long-term corporate strategy and focus on the most efficient path to key milestones. Seeing teams grow, capital deployed thoughtfully and ideas turn into progress are what makes the work rewarding.
Technologies that Eliasy sees promise in include innovations that use data collected from the human eye that go beyond just eye care. Imaging, eye movement and other biomarkers are combined with AI analysis to make connections between systemic, neurological and psychological conditions. Topcon has commercialised and heavily supported startups in this domain.
A recent investment in this sector is Senseye, which focuses on the diagnosis of PTSD. Others include Machine MD and DatosX.
The team of six at THINC, Topcon Healthcare’s Innovation Center, invest off the corporate balance sheet and are managing a portfolio of 18 startups, with another dozen in the pipeline for the coming year.
The Rising Stars are early-career corporate venture professionals who are making an outstanding contribution to their teams and the industry.
See the full list of Rising Stars 2026 here.
