On 1 June, Hitachi is to establish a new corporate venture capital (CVC) fund, Hitachi Ventures Fund, and unit, Hitachi Ventures GmbH (HVG), whose responsibility will be to identify and acquire equity interests in fast-growing innovative start-ups globally.
HVG will hire top external talents with experience and capability on CVC activities to invest to and collaborate with start-ups globally.
Stefan Gabriel, former president of 3M New Ventures, is to be CEO of HVG. The unit will start life with $150M.
Hitachi will support innovation by start-ups through the CVC activities, and expand collaborative creation with them as a partner.
“Hitachi Ventures Fund invests in highly innovative and early-stage start-ups with rapid growth potential. The purpose is to capture the occurring innovations and to support acceleration of the movements,” said Mr. Toshiaki Higashihara, President & CEO of Hitachi, Ltd.
“Hitachi will deepen collaborations with invested start-ups to create new markets and to achieve mutual growth. I believe CVC activities will enable Hitachi to speedily develop new business models, innovative products and to deliver value to society.”
Stefan Gabriel, to be appointed CEO of Hitachi Ventures GmbH, said “As the CVC market develops very actively and is growing globally, Hitachi takes that exciting opportunity to start a significant global Corporate Venture Activity.
“These strategic early-stage investments will concentrate on selected innovative business concepts with high commercialisation potential for the entire Hitachi and enable it to create new innovative products and services.”
