Tan, then head of Asia at DFJ Eplanet Ventures, began investing in the search engine, betting that 1.3 billion Chinese would eventually embrace the internet. When it went public five years later, Tan's firm emerged as the bigger beneficiary with a stake larger than the 22 percent held by Baidu co-founder, and now billionaire, Robin Li. He's making a similar bet on San Diego-based regenerative medicine company Samumed LLC, which is valued at $12 billion.
What attracted Tan was Samumed's approach to treating arthritic knees, hair loss, scarring of the lungs and degenerative disc diseases. The company is pursuing novel therapies for those conditions and cancer with drugs that target a cell-signaling pathway that offers promise in reversing the biological processes of aging.
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