Hitachi Establishes a New Corporate Venture Capital Fund to Expand Strategic Investments in the Environment and Healthcare

Oct 04, 2021 17:01 JST

Source: Hitachi, Ltd.

TOKYO, Oct 04, 2021 - (JCN Newswire) - Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501) today announced that it established a second fund for Hitachi Ventures (HV), the corporate venture capital (CVC) arm of Hitachi. The second fund will make strategic investments in innovative startups, particularly in the growth fields of environment and healthcare, which are part of Hitachi's key business focus areas.

Hitachi established HV in 2019 and launched the first fund(1), which has been investing in innovative startups with digital technologies and new business models in Hitachi's business sectors. To date, HV has initiated investments in 11 startups in the areas of industrial AI/IoT, data management / computing, digital healthcare, and life sciences. Through these investments, Hitachi is promoting innovation by leveraging its assets and capabilities to develop new markets and propose new solutions. In recognition of these activities, Stefan Gabriel, CEO of HV, was selected as the Top 25 in the GCV Powerlist 2021(2), which identifies outstanding CVC entrepreneurs.

With the aim of accelerating innovation in the environmental and healthcare fields, where Hitachi is focusing its efforts, Hitachi now established a second fund to strengthen its investment in startups that create environmental value by addressing climate change and promoting resource efficiency, as well as social value through healthcare, including medicine and pharmaceuticals. HV's second fund begins with a size of $ 150 million. Leveraging HV's global network, Hitachi willaccelerate growth by discovering startups that take on the challenge of advanced technologies and advanced business models, and by strengthening collaboration in both investment and co-creation.

HV is investing in open innovation to strengthen innovation capabilities towards continued growth. Hitachi will achieve growth through innovation by developing advanced technologies through research and development, and by collaborating and partneringwith startups.

Keiji Kojima, President and COO, Hitachi, Ltd., said: "Hitachi is originally a venture company that was born in the mine. Through the second fund, we will support and collaborate with startups which have innovative technologies predominantly for environmental and healthcare businesses. We will work together to develop technologies and create businesses to solve the social issues of 2050, and to develop markets globally. As a principal partner of COP26, we would like to work together towards the realization of a decarbonized society and become a Climate Change Innovator.

"Through open innovation with startups that share the same aspiration to contribute to society, we will create new values that leverage cutting-edge technologies, and further accelerate business growth in the areas of the environment, resilience, and security & safety, which are Hitachi's key areas of focus, as well as the global expansion of our Social Innovation Business."

(1) News Release dated April 26, 2019 titled "Hitachi Establishes the Corporate Venture Capital Fund to Support Startups as an Innovation Partner" https://www.hitachi.com/New/cnews/month/2019/04/190426c.html
In the above release, the name of the CVC fund was described as "Hitachi Ventures Fund", but the official name is now "HV Fund".
(2) Selected annually from more than 3,000 CVCs worldwide by Global Corporate Venturing, a data provider for the CVC industry.
https://globalcorporateventuring.com/gcv-powerlist-2021-25-stefan-gabriel/

Source: Hitachi, Ltd.
Sectors: PE, VC & Alternatives