The top 50: George Kellerman, managing director, Woven Capital
George Kellerman is the head of Woven Capital, the $800m global growth-stage investment fund run by Woven Planet Holdings, a subsidiary of Japan-based automotive manufacturer Toyota.
Woven Capital, which was formed in December 2020, is operated alongside the early-stage corporate venturing unit, Toyota Ventures. Woven Capital’s remit is to invest in innovative technologies and business models in areas such as autonomous mobility, automation, AI, machine learning, data and analytics, connectivity and smart cities.
Among Woven Capital’s recent investments is involvement in the $600m series D round for Nuro, a developer of electric self-driving delivery vehicles, and participation in the series C round for Ridecell, a platform powering digital transformations and IoT automation for fleet-driven businesses.
Kellerman joined Woven Planet Holdings as head of investments and acquisitions in May 2020 after almost five years at Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley (YMV), the corporate venturing unit of Japan-based industrials conglomerate Yamaha. Initially the unit’s chief operating officer, he became YMV’s CEO and managing director at the start of 2019.
Before Yamaha, Kellerman served as a managing partner at 500 Startups, one of the most active early-stage investors in the world. In earlier roles, he served as the managing director of Dell Japan’s consumer business, as the vice-president of international business development at Yahoo Japan, and as corporate counsel at Yahoo.
Kellerman has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Hawaii and a degree in business and finance law from the University of California Berkeley School of Law.
He serves as chairman of the new Global Mobility Council for Global Corporate Venturing Leadership Society.
