ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that ITOCHU Technology Ventures, Inc. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Toshihisa Adachi, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITV”), a subsidiary of ITOCHU, completed the first closing of capital investment in the Technology Ventures III Venture Capital Investment Limited Partnership (hereinafter “TV3”) as the general partner of the TV3, and established it with a total commitment of 5.4 billion yen. ITOCHU will invest one-third of that total, or 1.8 billion yen, in the TV3.

In addition to ITOCHU, the Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation Japan, large financial institutions including Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd.　 and educational institutions have also committed to invest in the TV3. ITV plans to hold the second closing of the investment until the end of this year.

The Great East Japan Earthquake that struck March 11, 2011, has caused massive damage mainly to the coastal areas along eastern Japan’s Pacific seaboard. Normal economic activity and daily life in other areas was also disrupted by the disaster’s impact on systems such as logistics and social infrastructure.

Under such circumstances, need is growing for technologies to play substantial roles in areas such as post-disaster restoration, disaster prevention, “smart cities”, stable power supply and energy conservation. In Japan there is strong desire to create new innovative technologies and business models, mainly in information technology, that can be globally successful. ITOCHU and ITV are keenly watching the above-mentioned growth areas in addition to the traditional IT areas.

ITOCHU plans to actively promote commercialization of excellent technologies and business models innovated by the entities in which ITV is investing through activities such as international business development, aiming to contribute to the Japanese economy’s recovery and further growth.

ITV will seek to maximize the TV3’s investment performance by adding to the corporate value of the investee companies through provision of hands-on assistance. It will also bolster the supply of capital to initial stage venture businesses into which risk capital should fundamentally flow, in order to decisively extend support to optimum business models from a global perspective that encompasses Japan and broader areas. These efforts’ outcomes are expected to foster innovative entrepreneurs in Japan who will be active on the global stage and to contribute to the recovery of Japan as an IT nation, as well as to the establishment of new Japanese brands and medium- to long-range expansion of employment opportunities.

About ITV

Company name	ITOCHU Technology Ventures, Inc.
Representative	Toshihisa Adachi, President
Head office	17th floor Itochu Building, 5-1, Kita-Aoyama 2-chome Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8077, Japan
Founded	July 25, 2000
Capital	100 million yen
Number of employee	13
URL	http://www.techv.co.jp/company/english.html

About the TV3