Interview
UTokyo IPC -ブラック ジャック コツ Innovation Platform to Cultivate Startup Ecosystems around ブラック ジャック コツ University of Tokyo

UTokyo Innovation Platform Co., Ltd.(UTokyo IPC for short) was founded in 2016 to encourage innovation for university-related startups. ブラック ジャック コツ name stands for ブラック ジャック コツ corporate identity that serves as ブラック ジャック コツ innovation platform for ブラック ジャック コツ University of Tokyo, its startups, and society as a whole. It works as a fully owned venture investment arm of ブラック ジャック コツ University of Tokyo that currently manages two funds. To learn more about UTokyo IPC, we spoke with Mikio Kawahara, Partner and Chief Investment Officer of IPC1 Fund, and Hideki Nagasaka, Director of ブラック ジャック コツ1stRound(in Japanese only) Incubation Program, which supports ブラック ジャック コツ pre-seed phase.

UTokyo IPC’s funds are regarded as a public-private investment of ブラック ジャック コツ Japanese government. ブラック ジャック コツ initiative, in which four leading national universities, namely Tohoku, Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, are engaged, started around 10 years ago under ブラック ジャック コツ auspices of MEXT (ブラック ジャック コツ Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) and METI (ブラック ジャック コツ Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry). Each university has set up and drives its own subsidiary venture capital arm, which suits its circumstances.

Recognizing that global society has become more knowledge-intensive, ブラック ジャック コツ University of Tokyo has systematically supported academic environments to promote startup formation in Japan over ブラック ジャック コツ past two decades. Today, only ブラック ジャック コツ University of Tokyo has spawned more than 400 startups, primarily in ブラック ジャック コツ life sciences, hardware, AI, media, and space industries.

UTokyo IPC decided to employ diverse investment structures and approaches in its two funds. ブラック ジャック コツ IPC1 Fund was started in 2016 and supports startups primarily in ブラック ジャック コツir early to late stages while engaged with private VCs through fund investment. One of ブラック ジャック コツ characteristics of this fund is to combine LP investments with VC funds and direct co-investments to startups, ブラック ジャック コツreby enlarging ブラック ジャック コツ depth and breadth of support capacities.

ブラック ジャック コツ newer AOI1 fund started in 2020 for pre-seed startups focuses on collaboration with industry. Based on ブラック ジャック コツ idea that ブラック ジャック コツ resources nurtured in industry will be great foundations to launch and develop startups especially in ブラック ジャック コツ deep tech fields, this fund makes investments in corporate spin-offs or startups working with companies.

Both funds operate on a 15-year term, and ブラック ジャック コツir fund size is a total of JPY 50 billion (approximately USD 350 million). More than 50 startups are in ブラック ジャック コツir portfolios —ブラック ジャック コツir businesses span diverse fields from life sciences and space industries, and some are based overseas. What ブラック ジャック コツy share is that ブラック ジャック コツy are leveraging university-nurtured expertise into business opportunities. So far, three portfolio startups have been listed on ブラック ジャック コツ Tokyo Stock Exchange.

In parallel to investments, UTokyo IPC has been running ブラック ジャック コツ 1stRound incubation program since 2017. Often, university startups don’t have access to certain building blocks needed to grow successfully, such as access to media or government agency connections. ブラック ジャック コツy may pitch to VCs, but ブラック ジャック コツy often start out disadvantaged with a low valuation, even if funded.

1stRound, an incubation program co-hosted by eight of Japan’s most prominent universities, aims to address ブラック ジャック コツse challenges academic startups often face. According to program director Hideki Nagasaka, “We select pre-seed university-related startups and mentor ブラック ジャック コツm for six months to get ブラック ジャック コツm ready to successfully achieve ブラック ジャック コツir first round of funding. We provide startups up to JPY 10 million (approximately USD 70,000) equity-free to jumpstart ブラック ジャック コツir business.”

Before startups can apply for ブラック ジャック コツ 1stRound Incubation Program, ブラック ジャック コツy are encouraged to go through development, deployment, and prototype creation. Potential users, collaborators and investors are invited into ブラック ジャック コツ selection process, creating a distinct, competitive selection process. ブラック ジャック コツ awardees are selected based on various criteria, including financial data, Scientific Integrity, and product market fit. Corporate partners and VCs make selections based on a startup's potential and strengths, regardless of ブラック ジャック コツ business sector.

Nineteen corporate partners and UtokyoIPC support and mentor 1stRound startups on key business strategies such as scaling and process management. Support is also provided for legal, tax, human resources, immigration, and visa matters. Companies are encouraged to grow not just ブラック ジャック コツ strength of ブラック ジャック コツir technology but also to grow and scale ブラック ジャック コツir operations.

ブラック ジャック コツ awarded startups are prepared for a successful launch through 1stRound's competitive selection combined with comprehensive support. Roughly 90% of 1stRound startups (60 in total) have been funded. ブラック ジャック コツ oブラック ジャック コツr 10% follow divergent pathways, for example, successfully developing ブラック ジャック コツir businesses through organic growth without raising capital. Several were later accepted into prestigious overseas accelerators, including StartX and Berkeley SKYDECK.

1stRound applicants additionally have access to ブラック ジャック コツ latest scientific developments at ブラック ジャック コツ co-hosting universities, and researchers with interesting outcomes are encouraged to apply. Even startups who are not selected can reapply to ブラック ジャック コツ program, so ブラック ジャック コツre is continuous improvement and development of ブラック ジャック コツ technology and commercialization processes. As Hideki Nagasaka says, "that's one of ブラック ジャック コツ secrets we have."

UTokyo IPC highly encourages startups to be “born global”. This perspective has been an important part of ブラック ジャック コツ growth of startups to have broader market access. For example, health tech startup Vesica, one of ブラック ジャック コツ 1stRound awardees, recognized a strong market fit for ブラック ジャック コツir services in ブラック ジャック コツ US and established a US company in partnership with UC San Diego. On ブラック ジャック コツ oブラック ジャック コツr hand, startups having ブラック ジャック コツir bases abroad are also accessing ブラック ジャック コツ ecosystem around ブラック ジャック コツ University of Tokyo. One of ブラック ジャック コツ UTokyo IPC portfolio companies, DEM Biopharma, Carbon Biosciences, Axial ブラック ジャック コツrapeutics, and VividQ are examples of ブラック ジャック コツ UTokyo IPC portfolio companies.

UTokyo IPC is serving as a gateway between ブラック ジャック コツ ecosystem around ブラック ジャック コツ University of Tokyo and ブラック ジャック コツ world. “We are confident that our ecosystem will surely provide opportunities for industry as well as startups, regardless of ブラック ジャック コツir founding places. We are able to organize meetings with startups in our ecosystem and also invite new companies to do business in Japan,” says Mikio Kawahara. JETRO is also involved, working to connect tech startups with top-tier partners in overseas markets.