Promoting cutting-edge innovation through collaboration with startups
Investing in startups to increase the value of existing businesses and create new businesses for the next generation
In 1998, Sumitomo Corporation established its first startup investment firm, Presidio Ventures ("Presidio"), in Silicon Valley in the US. As a corporate venture capital (CVC) investor, Presidio has then invested in startups possessing innovative technologies and business models and has been creating new business opportunities for more than 20 years.
Following the US, we have advanced into Europe (Presidio Europe), Israel (IN Venture), and Hong Kong and Shanghai (Sumitomo Corporation Equity Asia), while establishing SC Venture Partners in Japan. Based in these five regions, our CVC business is expanding its market around the world.
Today, we have globally invested in a total of more than 300 startups, including five US unicorns (less than 10-year-old, privately held startup companies valued at over 1 billion dollars).
Presidio has gradually expanded its investment area in response to new technology trends and regional characteristics, shifting its focus from the ICT and media sectors. Primarily, the current targets are next-generation growth fields (energy innovation, social infrastructure, retail/consumer, to healthcare and agriculture) specified in our medium-term management plan SHIFT 2023. In order to execute the relevant growth strategies, the firm is boosting global operation structures centering on the five regional bases.
We aim to promote collaboration with startups through CVC investment on a global scale. And we will deploy effective collaboration strategies to actively integrate cutting-edge technologies and innovation in order to increase the value of existing businesses and create new businesses for the next generation.
Nurturing and supporting seed stage startups
In 2019, with the aim of co-working and nurturing Japanese startups, Sumitomo Corporation launched the HAX Tokyo Accelerator Program in Japan in partnership with SCSK Corporation ("SCSK") and SOSV Investment LLC ("SOSV"), a US-based venture capital firm operating the HAX Accelerator Program, the largest of its kind in the world that specializes in hardware.
An accelerator program is designed to accelerate the growth of startup companies that possess innovative technologies or business models by providing knowledge and experience necessary for new business creation and product development. HAX Tokyo offers programs for hardware-related startup ventures while assisting HAX "alumni" companies located around the world (at least 250 in total) to enter the Japanese market.
By running HAX Tokyo, we seek to swiftly adopt cutting-edge technologies in order to upgrade the businesses of SCSK, the Sumitomo Corporation Group and partner companies and create new businesses, while expanding collaboration areas with startups.
Global CVC's Latest 10 Investments
| Region | Theme | Company name | Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| US (Presidio SCSK Digital Fund) | DX | Monitaur | AI-powered auditing solutions |
| ForAllSecure | DX of system verification process | ||
| US (Presidio Ventures) | DX | Nord Quantique | Quantum computing error correction technologies |
| Social Infrastructure | Optoro | Reverse logistics platforms | |
| Ori | Robotics-driven furniture business | ||
| Energy Innovation | SINAI | CO2 emissions visualization solutions for enterprises | |
| Europe (Presidio Europe) | Energy Innovation | SLAMcore | Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technologies for autonomous vehicles |
| Hong Kong/Shanghai (Sumitomo Corporation Equity Asia) |
Social Infrastructure | Yundong | Energy usage optimization software for buildings | E-Ports | Matching platforms for maritime transportation services and vessels |
| Israel (IN Venture) | Retail/consumer | Bria | AI based creation of images and videos |
June 2022
Keyword
- Japan
- East Asia
- Asia and Oceania
- Europe
- CIS
- Middle East, Africa
- The Americas
- Information Telecommunications
- Media ＆ Digital Group
