Keichi Shibahara’s ambitious vision makes Amvis the largest hospital provider in Japan

As an exchange student Keichi Shibahara’s ambitious in the United States in the late 1990s, Keichi Shibahara developed a passion for fine wine and entrepreneurship. He made money from day-to-day trading in currencies and stocks and fruitful arbitrage, seeding nearly all of his $7,700 scholarship. For example, Shibahara said he bought a box from Bordeaux at auction, drank a bottle or two. Shipped the rest to Japan, and sold it for three times the price. As a result, the initial cash grew to 200 million yen ($1.5 million) in about a year.

Back in Japan, Keichi Shibahara’s ambitious completed his medical studies at his home university in Nagoya and later received his doctorate. in molecular biology from Kyoto University. Working as a researcher in immunology and molecular biology at Kyoto University with his research team and a national research institute. He dreams of scientific breakthroughs covered in textbooks.

Over time, Shibahara developed other dreams that took advantage of his entrepreneurial instincts and medical experience. He started filming financially weak hospitals and nurses. And in 2013, at the age of 48, he founded a startup to build and manage hospices, a largely undeveloped area of ​​Japan. Despite its large elderly population. He called it Amvis, his shrinking “ambitious vision.”

“It sounds simple, but I realized that you can turn it into a business if there is a need.

And that’s fun,” he said at the company’s humble Tokyo headquarters. Which only had a plain Amvis sign on the reception wall.

In 2019, when Amvis Holdings established 20 facilities. And gained experience in caring for patients with chronic and terminal illnesses. Amvis Holdings was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Between late 2019 and 2021, its stock has more than tripled, propelling Shibahara. Who owns more than 70% of the stake. Into the ranks of self-made billionaires in Japan. Since August, his net worth has been up 35% to $1.35 billion. The biggest shareholder after Shibahara is Los Angeles-based Capital Research and Management. Which increased its stake to 7.8% from 6.6% in February. He declined to comment.