ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Yoshihisa Suzuki, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that ITOCHU Technology Ventures, Inc. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Shinzo Nakano, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITV”), a subsidiary of ITOCHU that conducts the venture capital business, established Technology Ventures V Venture Capital Investment Limited Partnership (hereinafter “TV5”). The fund will be the largest-ever, at 10 billion yen. ITOCHU will invest 2 billion yen, or one fifth of the total amount of committed capital, in TV5.

Recently, startups have been playing an increasingly important role in creating new industries and invigorating markets. Large companies are also accelerating their collaboration with startups for the purpose of innovating existing businesses and creating new businesses, and their investment in startups is also trending higher. On the other hand, there is concern that an excessive dependence on collaboration with large companies will place a restriction on the original sense of speed, financing and sales channels of startups, making it essential to facilitate their intrinsic growth.

ITV was established in 2000, taking advantage of ITOCHU’s network with leading venture capitalists, particularly those in Silicon Valley, which it has had since the 1980s, and its expertise. Based on its vision of “bringing evolution to society by creating new industries,” ITV is actively investing in startups, particularly those in their early stages, with cumulative investments from Fund No. 1 established in 2000 to Fund No. 4 established in 2015 of more than 29 billion yen, and with a cumulative number of portfolio companies of more than 150 companies. Most recently, some of the portfolio companies have become leading listed companies, including Mercari, Inc., Raksul Inc. and Uzabase, Inc.
In addition, ITV has strength in supporting the business expansion of startups, leveraging the ITOCHU Group’s networks in all business areas in Japan and overseas, and has knowledge and a proven track record as venture capital independent from the Group for the past 20 years, so that it has built its own position in the industry.

ITOCHU has been investing in and collaborating with startups, mainly those in their middle and later stages, taking advantage of its extensive network with startups in Japan and overseas, including ITV. Recently, ITOCHU has invested in KAKEHASHI Inc., which provides medical SaaS, and Funds, Inc., which operates an online market for funds for lending. ITOCHU also has made investment in Paidy Inc., which provides post-pay services, and WingArc1st Inc., which helps companies with data utilization, equity-method affiliates. ITOCHU will continue seeking to help improve the earnings strength of its portfolio companies and vitalize the overall economy by promoting collaboration with startups in various business fields with a view toward the upcoming New Normal.