University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners- Investing and supporting startups from the seed/early stages in academia in Japan and abroad.

Keis Ide is a partner at UTEC, a Japanese Venture capital firm investing in deep tech across the world. Keis focuses on innovative technologies as well as IT-enabled solutions. He spent 15 years in the US, half of which in Silicon Valley. He was awarded Forbes Japan Midas List (2017, 2020), Japan Venture Award (2021).

UTEC has been working with academia in Japan and abroad including the University of Tokyo. They have supported technology ventures that are pioneering frontiers to solve global issues of humankind, by bringing together capital, talent, and knowledge; around science and technology. Their latest fund, UTEC 5, raised over JPY 30 billion in 2021. They provide hands-on support from the seed/early stages in cooperation with their partners in academia in Japan and abroad.

Show notes:
University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners
- Founded as a VC firm because of a regulation change around universities in Japan
- Startup marketing and whole product thinking
- Characters they are looking for in founders
- Investing in technologies that are applicable worldwide
- Assessing technology risk vs market risk in deep tech startups
- Segmenting customers- Finding the right maret vertical when you have multiple markets
- Assessing market costs at early stages
- How UTEC helps founders
- Creating business plans in collaboration with founders
- Difference between founders in Japan vs the US
- A nice support system for early stage founders in Japan compared to the US
- Areas that UTEC likes to invest
- Discussion around the concept of speed for deep tech startups
- Creating appropriate milestones and focus on solving specific problems rather than spreading thin solving many problems
- Hiring external CEOs for deep tech startups
- Contact: https://www.ut-ec.co.jp/english/contact