We are pleased to announce that a fund operated by UTokyo Innovation Platform Co., Ltd. (UTokyo IPC), the venture investment arm of the University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan's leading national university, has come to a final closing, with a total of JPY 25.6 billion involving 11 institutional investors. The Accelerating Open Innovation Fund 1 (AOI Fund 1) is an investment limited partnership that [...]
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed on Monday to establish an $88 billion university fund to promote Japan as a science and technology nation as part of a growth strategy needed to distribute wealth to the wider public. Some of the growth initiatives, like the university fund, will likely be featured in the planned stimulus [...]
The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC), a deep tech investment firm, announced the first close of its fifth fund, which is expected to total 30 billion JPY (or about $275 million USD) by June 2021. UTEC currently has about $780 million in total assets under management, and says this makes it one of [...]
China's Tsinghua University's investment unit is set to become one of Japan's biggest supporters of high-tech startups, with plans to invest 4 billion yuan ($584 million) over several years in artificial intelligence and robotics ventures. Tus-Holdings, the leading research university's investment arm, established an office late last month with UTokyo Innovation Platform, its counterpart under the University of Tokyo. [...]
Kyoto University is combining venture capital with that from a peer in the Chinese city of Guangzhou to help startups from the university do business in China and other Asian markets. This marks the first time that venture capital from a Japanese national university using public money is partnering with overseas capital. The venture between the wholly [...]
A venture capital firm affiliated with the University of Tokyo has established a fund that ranks among Japan's biggest in targeting startups with roots in higher education, eyeing ambitious candidates offering cutting-edge technologies developed at the school. University of Tokyo Edge Capital plans to assemble about 25 billion yen ($226 million) for the fund by April. It has [...]
Tokyo-based startup Infostellar has announced raising $7.3 million in a Series A round led by the venture-capital arm of aerospace company Airbus, with participation from WERU Investment, D4V, and Sony Innovation Fund, as well as existing investors FreakOut Holdings and 500 Startups Japan. The latest round brings the total funds raised by the startup to [...]
Tsingda International Venture Capital is part of the Tsinghua Innovation Center in Dongguan (TICD), which is a joint venture fund between the Dongguan Government and Tsinghua University according to McConnaughey. Tsingda brings us a powerful partner in China to accelerate our chemistry material technologies in a number of areas. Light Polymers will set up a [...]
The University of Tokyo will launch one of Japan's largest university-tied investment funds by the end of the year, pouring up to 16 billion yen ($157 million) into affiliated startups in pharmaceuticals, materials and other fields with long timelines that tend to deter private investors. Pending approval from the education ministry, the university will put 23 [...]
Keio University and Nomura Holdings Inc. increased the fundraising goal for their venture-capital partnership by 50 percent to 15 billion yen ($147 million) after demand from Japanese financial firms during the first phase of financing exceeded expectations. Keio Innovation Initiative Inc., founded by Japan’s oldest university and biggest brokerage, closed the first round last month with [...]