Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501) today announced the establishment of a third fund for Hitachi Ventures (HV), the global corporate venture capital (“CVC”) arm of Hitachi(1), for the purpose of accelerating innovation and initiating new business opportunities in the digital domain, a key business focus area for Hitachi. The fund will begin with a size of $ 300 million, which is twice the size of the first and second funds established previously and will make strategic investments in startups driving the latest digital trends including Web3 and generative AI technologies.
Hitachi established HV and launched the first fund in June 2019 and the second fund in October 2021. Since being founded in June 2019, HV has built a strong investment team, and currently manages a strong portfolio with 21 startups contributing to digital transformation, carbon-free society, and wellbeing out of the two funds, providing new value for customers. Both funds have supported the growth of the startups through capital and collaboration with Hitachi businesses. Areas of investment include: high-speed distributed data processing solution that enables processing of vast amounts of data generated by IoT and AI, solutions for automatically collecting Scope 3 greenhouse gas emission data in the upstream supply chain, and solutions for carbon credit assessment, all of which has become a growing business issue.
The newly established third fund will expand investments in startups that take on the challenge of advanced business models and digital economy building on new trends such as Web3 technology, as well as startups with cutting-edge technology such as AI, blockchain, cloud computing, 5G/6G and VR and new services models. Through such investments, the fund will facilitate the creation of digital innovation and the social implementation of these technologies and will contribute to the enhancement of customers’ business activities, improvement of daily life experiences, and sustainable growth.
Fostering open innovation and growth by strategic corporate venturing, Hitachi will explore digital business models for developing services that innovate customer experience and generating growth and will provide customers and society with new value that utilizes Hitachi’s strengths in the three business sectors: Digital Systems & Services, Green Energy & Mobility, and Connective Industries.
Keiji Kojima, President & CEO, Hitachi, Ltd., said: In recent years, technological change has been unprecedented in pace. Against this backdrop, Hitachi began its corporate venture activities in 2019 as a means of quickly identifying innovations in the digital domain globally and integrating them into our Social Innovation Business and Innovation Growth Strategy. The newly established third fund will realize collaborative creation with startups that have cutting-edge technologies such as Web3 and generative AI technologies. This way Hitachi will further advance its pioneering spirit in developing customer value and new market opportunities which has been our identity since our founding, and the strengths that Hitachi has built up in the Digital Systems & Services, Green Energy & Mobility, and Connective Industries business domains. Through this activity we will accelerate the global growth of our Social Innovation Business and provide new value to society.
Stefan Gabriel, CEO & Managing Director of Hitachi Ventures GmbH, said: Since our foundation in 2019, HV has developed a highly regarded venture investment program investing into global startup leaders in partnership with many of the world’s best VC and CVC funds. HV adds value to portfolio companies by supporting collaboration and strategic dialogue with Hitachi’s businesses globally, through which we gained a strong reputation in the market and was recognized by a top ranking in GCV’s “Powerlist 2022″*2. With our third fund, HV will further boost Hitachi’s Innovation Growth Strategy by investments and collaboration with innovative fast scaling digital businesses and technology solutions and will extend our global reach.
(1) CVC fund: The type of fund that a business company strategically invests in external startups and other companies.*2Global Corporate Venturing, a data provider for the CVC industry and a global association for 1000+ CVCs, selects and ranks CVCs worldwide annually
