Jun Yasumoto, president and CEO of NTT Docomo Ventures, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2025 Powerlist.
Jun Yasumoto stepped into the leading role at NTT Docomo Ventures, the CVC arm of Japanese mobile phone network operator NTT Docomo, in 2023. His previous role was in NTT Docomo’s new business planning and development unit, specialising in sports and entertainment.
NTT Docomo is one of Japan’s largest telecommunications companies, serving more than 73 million customers in the country.
The CVC unit has teams based in Tokyo and Silicon Valley, investing in promising B2C and B2B technology startups. Set up in 2008, the unit has made around 157 investments, of which 55 have achieved an IPO or been listed.
Many of NTT Docomo Ventures’ investments are in Japan, where it invests in a wide range of areas from online commerce, to gaming and electric vehicles and space tech.
NTT Docomo Ventures aims to invest in companies that can collaborate with the NTT parent company’s businesses in the medium to long term.
It can also support NTT’s projects more directly. For example, NTT Docomo is overseeing investments in the NTT Investment Partners fund, a ¥20bn ($143m) fund established in 2023 to support NTT’s project to transform its broadband network by 2030.
Many of NTT Docomo Ventures’ investments are in Japan, where it invests in a wide range of areas from online commerce, to gaming and electric vehicles and space tech. Outside of Japan, the unit is taking stakes in leading big data, analytics and AI companies. For example, it recently co-invested with several other corporate VCs in the $180m series C funding round for ElevenLabs, the maker of AI-aided text-to-speech technology.
Yasumoto first joined NTT Docomo’s parent firm, NTT, in 1999, working first in sales before migrating to focus on internet services and helping incubate startups.
He spent a decade at NTT Resonant, an NTT Group company that offers a range of web development services. In 2012, he joined NTT Docomo Ventures, where he completed investments in 21 companies, 15 of which subsequently exited through IPO or M&A. In 2018, Yasumoto returned to NTT Docomo where he developed new businesses in the sports and entertainment fields, before stepping into the CEO position of NTT Docomo Ventures.
The Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.
