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Forbes
02-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Japan's Mitsubishi Launches $700 Million VC Arm
Mitsubishi's logo on display in Tokyo, Japan. Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi Corp. has launched its first corporate venture capital arm with a total fund size of 100 billion yen (about $700 million). The fund includes capital already deployed by Mitsubishi's eight business groups. Titled MC Global Innovation (MCGI), the new CVC will 'make flexible investments across a broad range of sectors,' Mitsubishi said in a statement. MCGI will invest across the startup life cycle, from seed to later stages, with a focus on early-stage investments, according to the statement. The firm will primarily target the fields of 'AI, software, bio and health care,' a representative of Mitsubishi added in emailed comments, but may also include segments such as 'robotics, aerospace, and next-generation computing,' among others. Mitsubishi's startup portfolio currently spans approximately 100 companies, with assets under management totalling $300 million. Following the establishment of MCGI, Mitsubishi plans to invest another $300 million over the next ten years, according to the representative. The CVC's debut comes on the heels of Mitsubishi's latest corporate strategy launch in April. To navigate what it described as an uncertain business environment linked to 'unprecedented geopolitical and economic risks,' the company stated it plans to allocate approximately 1 trillion yen to sustaining capex and more than 3 trillion yen to growth investments by 2027. Through MCGI, Mitsubishi will consolidate its portfolio of startup investments from its eight business groups, spanning environmental energy, materials solutions, mineral resources, urban development and infrastructure, mobility, food industry, consumer technology-focused 'Smart Life Creation,' and power solutions. Recent deals have centered on the fields of sustainable materials and mobility. On Monday, Mitsubishi separately announced it would invest in and enter a partnership with London-headquartered startup DEScycle, which recycles metals from electronic waste. Last November, Mitsubishi invested $25 million in Ample, a San Francisco-headquartered electric vehicle charging startup that develops battery-swapping infrastructure. Ample previously partnered with commercial vehicle manufacturer Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp. to pilot its technology on electric trucks in Japan. A Mitsubishi Motors model on display at the 2025 Tokyo Auto Salon event in Chiba, Japan. In addition to Mitsubishi Corp., the broader Mitsubishi Group includes financial services giant Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), which operates Japan's largest bank by total assets, MUFG Bank; automaker Mitsubishi Motors; electronics and electrical equipment manufacturer Mitsubishi Electric; and industrial group Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. CVCs have seen an uptick in activity in Japan, where corporations, including CVCs, were among the key types of investors 'making significant investments in startups' in 2024, according to an April report published by the government-owned Japan Investment Corp. Over this period, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital—a VC arm of MUFG, commonly known as MUCAP–participated in 22 seed-stage funding rounds and 44 in Series A to B, the report added, making it one of Japan's most active investors. As opposed to MUFG Innovation Partners, MUFG's dedicated CVC arm, MUCAP has a broader investment mandate that extends beyond financial services. A rising area for investment has been Japan's semiconductor industry, which has seen a surge in both public and private investment. In March, the Japanese government pledged an additional $5.4 billion to its homegrown chipmaker Rapidus, bringing its total government subsidies or grants to around $11.5 billion. With backing from industry giants, including MUFG Bank and SoftBank, Rapidus aims to commence commercial production of chips using a 2-nanometer (2nm) process node—some of the world's most advanced—by 2027.
Scotsman
31-05-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
Glasgow Tech Week sets template for future success
Standing room only for the 'Scaling in Sync – C-suite strategies for Unified Growth' event during Glasgow Tech Week Founders need more opportunities to learn from peers and share playbooks, writes Nick Freer Sign up to our Scotsman Money newsletter, covering all you need to know to help manage your money. Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Glasgow Tech Week took place this week in the metropolis once known as the Second City of the Empire. At the stunning Barclays campus with incredible views over the Clyde, the river that runs through the story of Glasgow's industrial revolution, today's business leaders gathered to discuss taking Scotland's tech and entrepreneurial scene to the next level. The 'Scaling in Sync – C-suite strategies for Unified Growth' event featured scaleup leaders from Deliveroo, ENOUGH, Firstbase, and Malted AI, and thanks to the Innovation Banking team at Barclays, Cooper Parry, and Burness Paull for inviting me along to chair the panel on the night. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Andy Robinson was the commercial director at software development firm Cultivate when Deliveroo made the company its first ever UK acquisition in 2019, with Robinson joining a tech juggernaut which was hiring up to 100 people every week – which sounded like scaling on steroids. Nick Freer is the founding director of corporate PR agency Freer Consultancy (Picture: Stewart Attwood) As chief financial officer at ENOUGH, Elaine Ferguson has overseen funding rounds totalling over €100 million from global investors as the food tech company innovates towards its mission around sustainable food transition. Headquartered in Glasgow, ENOUGH recently opened the world's largest non-animal protein facility, based in the Netherlands. After leaving the oil and gas industry in Aberdeen, Chris Herd built IT asset management platform Firstbase that was acquired by San Francisco-headquartered AppDirect last year. So the maxim, 'If you build it, they will come', from the Eighties movie Field of Dreams rings true – you don't have to be in Silicon Valley to scale amazing tech startups. Having said that, in spite of a catalogue of individual company success stories like Cultivate, ENOUGH, and Firstbase, as a nation we are still seeing relatively few scaleups going on to achieve truly global success. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In this column only a few weeks ago, prominent tech C-suite Richard Lennox put it like this: 'We haven't yet cracked the code of creating global-scale businesses' in an op-ed headlined, 'How Can We Fix Scotland's Big Scaleup Problem?'. Artificial intelligence is enabling some tech startups to gain traction much quicker than ever before, so for example a small AI-enabled tech team can be ten times more productive. So, it was interesting to hear from Laura Bernal Vergara, chief of staff at Edinburgh-based Malted AI, about the work they are doing around small language models (SLMs). We covered so much at Barclays the other night that it would be hard to faithfully digest that here, but I hope that each of the panelists will take the opportunity to write for this column in the weeks and months ahead. What is clear is that we need more of the kind of interaction that took place at Glasgow Tech Week, and very probably on a more regular basis, so that founders can continually learn from other peers, and share playbooks on how we can succeed together – faster and stronger. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Lastly, a shout out to Alisdair Gunn, the director of the Glasgow City Innovation District and the chief architect of Glasgow Tech Week. Bravo!
Indian Express
19-05-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Uber enters metro ticketing with ONDC tie-up, eyes logistics for food delivery
Starting with Delhi-NCR, ride-hailing app Uber will now allow users to buy QR code-based metro tickets, following its first-ever integration with the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). The San Francisco-headquartered company, which counts India as its third-largest market, also plans to launch its business-to-business (B2B) logistics vertical on the ONDC network, beginning with on-demand food deliveries. Launched in 2021 by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), ONDC is a decentralised, interoperable network that connects buyers and sellers—much like how the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) works for digital payments. Metro ticketing with ONDC tie-up ONDC's mobility vertical enables public transit operators like the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and private apps like Uber to interact through a standardised protocol. Starting May 19, Uber users in Delhi-NCR can purchase metro tickets and access real-time transit information on the app itself. The payment method for metro tickets is currently limited to UPI. Earlier, Uber's competitor Rapido had also launched metro ticketing in Delhi and Chennai through ONDC. At the metro ticketing launch, Uber's India and South Asia president Prabhjeet Singh said, 'Thanks to the work of the ONDC team, the protocol is now live, scaled, tested and reliable. We are now able to use that protocol, go live with DMRC faster, with far more reliable infrastructure, and then make it available at scale to the market much faster than we would have done otherwise.' Singh added that ONDC's mobility protocol would enable Uber to integrate with multiple other metro systems more quickly. It plans to expand the metro ticketing feature to three more cities by the year-end. While this is the first such instance of Uber and ONDC integrating, it's worth noting that the integration is not for Uber's main offering, which is ride hailing. This has been a cause of concern for the government as some of the biggest entities in India's burgeoning e-commerce market, ranging from food delivery to ride hailing, were yet to operationalise full integration with ONDC for their core services. On-demand logistics for food deliveries Uber is also developing a solution that enables businesses onboarded onto ONDC to request on-demand logistics through its delivery network—without needing to maintain their own fleet. 'The service will initially facilitate food deliveries, with its underlying technology designed to scale to sectors such as e-commerce, grocery, pharmacy, and healthcare logistics,' a press statement said. At the launch, Sanjiv Singh, Joint Secretary at DPIIT, also encouraged Uber to 'very seriously' look at the food delivery business, adding that ONDC is in conversation with hundreds of hoteliers and restaurateurs to come onto the network. Singh said two factors are key for Uber to launch food delivery through ONDC—protecting the company's brand equity and ensuring profitability. 'The first is that their brand equity is not compromised. Uber is such a big company that it won't compromise its brand equity for some money. So we need to be very careful and conscious of how we work, to ensure they feel proud to be part of the ONDC network. And second, what every business wants is to have profits. The model should be such that it is profitable to Uber,' he said. Currently, ONDC does not levy any network fee. In December, it had proposed a fee of Rs 1.5 for every transaction exceeding Rs 250 from January, but later postponed implementation to July 1. Aggam Walia is a Correspondent at The Indian Express, reporting on power, renewables, and mining. His work unpacks intricate ties between corporations, government, and policy, often relying on documents sourced via the RTI Act. Off the beat, he enjoys running through Delhi's parks and forests, walking to places, and cooking pasta. ... Read More
Business Insider
19-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
23andMe was once worth $6 billion. What's left of the DNA testing startup is being bought for $256 million.
The assets of failed DNA testing firm 23andMe are being bought for $256 million. Biotechnology firm Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said on Monday it would acquire 23andMe's personal genome service, total health, and research services business lines, and its biobank of customers' genetic samples. Regeneron said San Francisco-headquartered 23andMe would continue to offer all consumer genome services. "We believe we can help 23andMe deliver and build upon its mission to help those interested in learning about their own DNA and how to improve their personal health, while furthering Regeneron's efforts to use large-scale genetics research to improve the way society treats and prevents illness overall," said George Yancopoulos, cofounder, chief scientific officer, and president of Regeneron, in a statement. Mark Jensen, chair of 23andMe's special committee of directors, said the deal "maximizes the value of the business and enables the mission of 23andMe to live on, while maintaining critical protections around customer privacy, choice and consent with respect to their genetic data." Under the agreement, Regeneron must comply with the firm's privacy policies and applicable law regarding customers' personal data. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. In March, 23andMe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, with CEO and cofounder Anne Wojcicki stepping down immediately. The firm that offered a popular saliva sample service for analyzing ancestry and health risks went public in 2021 and was briefly valued at $6 billion. However, it never turned a profit and faced major challenges last year, including a $30 million settlement in a class-action suit following the data of some users becoming compromised, two failed attempts by Wojcicki to take the company private, and about 40% of employees being laid off to cut costs. 23andMe said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in November it had debts of $2.3 billion, about $126 million in cash and cash equivalents, and would need additional liquidity.
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Business Standard
23-04-2025
- Automotive
- Business Standard
Former Tesla hand steers Zeno Auto into India's e-motorcycle race
Surajeet Das Gupta New Delhi Listen to This Article San Francisco-headquartered Zeno Auto — founded by ex-Tesla top executive Michael Spencer — is set to challenge Ola Electric in the country's electric motorcycle market. The company, operating from Bengaluru, has already started the homologation process for its electric motorcycle, powered by a 4 kilowatt-hour lithium-iron phosphate battery. It plans to price it between ₹75,000 and ₹1.2 lakh. With a range of 100 kilometres (km) per charge, it aims to launch its maiden electric motorcycle in India in the fourth quarter of 2025. Positioned as a mass-market offering, Zeno hopes to address range anxiety by providing the battery-as-a-service through a
